Literacy,technology and ‘technological literacy’

The shortcomings of the technological literacy metaphor are reviewed. The lack of an agreed meaning for this concept reflects a widespread perplexity about how the study of technology should be incorporated into general education. The paper considers how the study of literature and history might contribute to an understanding of technology and posits a framework which permits the study of the made world to be incorporated within a humanistic educational scheme. It is suggested that the historical study of technologies of literacy could play a significant role in curricular integration.Based on a Plenary Address to the second Domains of Literacy Conference:Literacies for a Productive Future Institute of Education London 1/9/94Michael Barnett has been, since 1992, Professor of Technology and Education at the Institute of Education in London University. Prior to that he was Reader in Physics at Imperial College London. His main scholarly activities are concerned with the history, philosophy and sociology of technology and their bearing on educational practice. He has established an MA programme in Technology and Education which reflects these concerns.     

The framing of innovation among European research funding actors: Assessing the potential for ‘responsible research and innovation’ in the food and health domain

Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) has recently emerged as a new framework for science and technology governance. The concept articulates the need for mutual exchange by which societal actors become responsive to each other early on in the process of innovation, with a view to facilitate ethically acceptable and sustainable innovation. There is relatively limited evidence to explore the extent to which the process of research and innovation under the terms of RRI is realised in practice, particularly in the context of food and health research. Although research to date has been examining innovation from the point of view of inputs and outputs—R&D funding and patents—we propose to examine the cognitive framing of innovation that shapes decisions of those who constitute a part of the innovation chain. This paper explores how the concept of innovation is understood and used in policy implementation, with a particular focus upon ‘food and health’ science and research policy and funding. Our analysis is based on 55 interviews of various actors engaged in research funding decision-making across eight European countries. Three themes emerged from the analysis: concept of innovation; conditions for innovation; and drivers of innovation; through these themes, the cognitive framing was drawn out. The cognitive framing suggests that innovation in the food and health domain is perceived to be focused on biosciences and marketable applications to the neglect of social sciences and broader public interest; that the “innovation network” is primarily viewed as centred around scientific/technical and industrial actors; and that the demand-pull dynamic is relevant to innovation in the area of food and health, despite having been relegated in contemporary thinking and policies around innovation. These findings point to the inadequate consideration of the normative issues—how problems are to be defined and addressed—among national research funders in the food and health domain, and indicate a gap between the ideas of innovation under the terms of RRI and innovation as conceptualised by those involved in its governance.     

Asia’s national innovation systems: Institutional adaptability and rigidity in the face of global innovation challenges

This paper explores several features of, and changes in, innovation capacity in Asia. The growth of technology-based industries has been a critically important element of Asian industrial development and has required extensive institutional support for the diffusion of innovation and technological learning. As a number of Asian countries reach the global technological frontier they need to develop new capabilities for creating “radical” innovations in order to sustain their international competitiveness. Using the analytical frameworks of national innovation systems and varieties of capitalism, the paper reviews some systemic and environmental factors encouraging and constraining these developments. By referring to illustrative case studies of institutional evolution within Taiwan’s national innovation system and technological entrepreneurship in Korea, the paper argues that whilst there are major developments in models of innovation support, emulating those found in liberal market economies, enduring cultural legacies can remain influential. It highlights the central importance of social as well as economic institutional adaptation. Some management and policy implications of this attribute are considered, and a future research agenda is proposed.

Entrepreneurial firms’ network competence,technological capability,and new product development performance

Successfully developing new products is critical to an entrepreneurial firm’s continued success. Based on the resource management model, this study aims to answer the key research question: how entrepreneurial firms leverage network competence and technological capability to enhance their new product development (NPD) performance in a turbulent environment. Using data collected from 134 entrepreneurial firms in China, we investigate the performance effects of network competence and technological capability, and the moderating effects of technological turbulence and market turbulence. Our findings show that network competence has a positive impact on NPD performance and technological capability plays a mediating role between network competence and NPD performance. Technological turbulence enhances the performance effects of network competence and technological capability; market turbulence advances the performance effect of network competence, but fails to exert significant negative impact on that of technological capability. We discuss managerial implications of our findings and offer directions for future research.     

Enhancing teachers’ technological pedagogical knowledge and practices: a professional development model for technology teachers in Malawi

This paper reports on a professional development that was designed and implemented in an attempt to broaden teachers’ knowledge of the nature of technology and also enhance their technological pedagogical practices. The professional development was organised in four phases with each phase providing themes for reflection and teacher learning in subsequent phases. On-going support, reflection and feedback underpinned the professional development processes to enhance teachers’ prospects of putting aside old traditions and culture to implement new practices in their classrooms. The teachers collaboratively explored new concepts through readings of selected scholarly papers, making presentations of their views generated from the readings and engaging with peers in discussing learning, curriculum issues and concepts related to the nature of technology and technology education. A qualitative analysis of the teachers’ journey through the phases of the professional development showed the teachers’ enhanced knowledge of technology and technology education. However, their classroom practices showed technological pedagogical techniques that reflected their traditional strategies for teaching technical subjects. It is argued that although the teachers’ conceptualisation of learning in technology was still fragile at this point, attempts to shift teachers’ beliefs and practices require deep theoretical grounding and transferring that into technological practices. A professional development built on existing ideas and context helps expand the teachers’ views about the nature of technology and technology education.     

Entrepreneurs’ resource background,innovation, philanthropy and the exit of external Investment in Private Ventures in China

Retaining external investment is an important task for private firms. However, the entrepreneurial financing literature has primarily focused on how to attract, instead of retain, start-up funding. Integrating social embeddedness, signaling, and strategic choice theories, we propose that entrepreneurs’ resource background, philanthropic, and innovative activities affect the exit speed of external investment for Chinese private ventures. In particular, we propose that external investment exits entrepreneurs with deprived resources faster than those more resourceful entrepreneurs. Yet, external investment stays longer when less resourceful entrepreneurs commit to innovative or philanthropic activities.

     

Why sustainable and ‘nutritionally correct’ food is not on the agenda: Western Sydney,the moral arts of everyday life and public policy

Within a context of delivering food security into the future, dietary guidelines are being reframed, corporations are replacing unsustainable products, and consumers are being encouraged to become ecological citizens. While there is a growing literature on the food practices of ‘alternative’ consumers, ‘mainstream’ consumers are less well understood. This paper describes qualitative research undertaken in a socio-economically disadvantaged area of Sydney, Australia, which aimed to uncover consumer views towards sustainable and healthy diets. Most participants indicated a discrepancy between their desired and actual behaviours: while they want to support Australian, or local, food producers they gravitate towards cheap and tasty food from ‘anywhere’; and while they associate nutritious food with fresh food, they will buy processed foods which can be less expensive, appeal to children and are prone to less waste. Reflecting mainstream Australian political culture, participants were compromising household food budgets in order to pursue a socially acceptable standard of living (including decent housing, car-reliance). They were also incorporating the pleasure and desires of family members as part of ‘the moral arts of everyday life’. Using social theories of consumption and practice sociology we argue that food choices and practices – easy or not – need to be interpreted as part of the role that consumption plays in political citizenship and moral subjectivity. In the Western Sydney context, food practices are essentially household budget and family nourishment practices rather than nutrition and sustainability practices; a position which is not addressed in the government’s new food policies or wage determination processes.     

Recognition of entrepreneur’s social ties and firm innovation in emerging markets: explanation from the industrial institutional environment and survival pressure

Despite the extensive attention to the role of entrepreneurs’ business or political ties, few studies have distinguished the basis of those social ties. The aim of this study is to explore the different roles of the entrepreneurs’ personalized and formal social ties on the firms’ innovation performance. Based on renqing and formal rules, this study extends the social ties’ typology into four categories, namely, transactional business ties, transactional political ties, guanxi business ties, and guanxi political ties. Using data collected from 209 Chinese firms, we further identify the distinctive contributions of the different ties on the entrepreneurial firm’s innovation performance under different institutional environments and entrepreneurs’ survival pressure. This paper will help researchers and managers better understand the function of social ties in innovation in emerging markets, such as China.

     

Adherence to WHO’s nutrition recommendations in the UK: Dietary patterns and policy implications from a national survey

Analysis of dietary patterns has largely focused on their association with diseases or risk factors, but limited research has been conducted on the heterogeneity of population dietary patterns and their adherence to international or national nutritional guidelines. As a result, the aim of this study is to identify latent dietary patterns of UK residents and to assess how well different segments comply with WHO dietary norms.To achieve this objective, the UK’s National Diet and Nutrition Surveys for 2011–12 dataset was analysed performing a latent class analysis on energy (kcals) derived from selected food groups. To assess adherence to different dietary patterns of the British population to nutritional guidelines, a traffic light system and a composite conformity index were developed to establish how well the identified segments comply with current dietary WHO norms regarding salt, free sugars, total fat, saturated fat, fruit and vegetables and dietary fibre.Results show four different segments which on the basis of heterogeneity of dietary patterns were named ‘high sugar/high fat consumers’, ‘prudent eaters’, ‘high fat consumers’ and ‘junk food eaters’. These segments show significant differences within and between groups in terms of dietary calories intakes and their adherence to WHO norms. Although ‘prudent eaters’ are closer to WHO dietary guidelines than other segments, none of the identified segments fully comply with dietary WHO norms. Policy implications of these findings are fully discussed in the conclusions arguing how current, future and potential dietary demand and supply measures affect consumers’ compliance with WHO norms.     

An exploration of the ‘dark side’ associations of conflict,power and dependence in customer–supplier relationships

The purpose of this paper is to present the findings from a critical literature review of the ‘dark side’ issues related to three constructs, namely conflict, power and dependence, in customer–supplier relationships. Previous research has focused on discrete characteristics that influence relationships, but there is a paucity of research that considers the intertwining of a set of characteristics that may create darker associations or consequences for relationships. The paper contributes to IMP literature through this investigation of darker associations of relationships as much of the previous literature on customer–supplier relationship development has been concerned with building trust, developing commitment or managing long-term goals and mutuality (IMP Group, 1982).The paper considers the research on conflict, power and dependence in relationships, tracing its development from January 1980 to the end of 2014, and assessing the dark side issues raised in previous research, placing particular emphasis on ‘asymmetric’ customer–supplier relationships.The contribution of the paper lies in its critique of this focused body of literature and in the development of a better understanding for future IMP researchers on the derivations, foundations and findings concomitant to the ‘dark side’ of conflict, power and dependence in customer–supplier relationships. The paper proposes themes and future avenues of research related to the dark side of conflict, power and dependence, placing emphasis on the ‘bi-polarity’ of each relationship characteristic, the dynamics of relational benefits, the consequences of their evolution on inter-organizational trust and its impact on the dark side of relationships. Hence, the paper contributes through the identification of potential research areas and propositions to guide future conceptual developments in the field.     

Effects of perceptions on LMX and work performance: Effects of supervisors’ perception of subordinates’ emotional intelligence and subordinates’ perception of trust in the supervisor on LMX and, consequently, performance

There are few studies on how the perception of supervisors by their subordinates contributes to high-quality leader-member exchange (LMX). We thus propose that the trust perception of supervisors by their subordinates can help explain the development of high-quality LMX. Furthermore, the trust perception may interact with supervisor-rated emotional intelligence to influence the quality of LMX, and, consequently, work performance. Using a longitudinal study on a sample of 285 supervisor-subordinate dyads from a manufacturing firm in China, we found that (1) supervisor-rated emotional intelligence of subordinates (Time 1) positively predicts the quality of LMX (Time 2); (2) this relationship is stronger when subordinates highly trust their supervisors (Time 1); (3) LMX (Time 2) positively predicts work performance (Time 3); and (4) LMX (Time 2) fully mediates the interactive effect of emotional intelligence (Time 1) and trust in the supervisor (Time 1) on work performance (Time 3).     

Students’ attitudes toward technology: exploring the relationship among affective,cognitive and behavioral components of the attitude construct

International Journal of Technology and Design Education - When studying attitudes toward technology education, the affective attitudinal component has primarily been the focus. This study focuses...