6,710 research outputs found
UMSL Bulletin 2023-2024
The 2023-2024 Bulletin and Course Catalog for the University of Missouri St. Louis.https://irl.umsl.edu/bulletin/1088/thumbnail.jp
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The impact of employees' working relations in creating and retaining trust: the case of the Bahrain Olympic Committee
Introduction: This thesis investigates the impact of employees’ working relations in creating, maintaining and retaining trust in the Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC).
Aim: The main aim of this thesis is to determine how the three groups of Organisational Trust variables, namely Social System Elements (SSE), Factors of Trustworthiness (FoT) and Third-Party Gossip (TPG), affect employees’ Organisational Trust (OTR) in the BOC and promote Organisational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB). To answer this main aim, a conceptual framework was created that focused on exploring the following research aims: (1) the interrelationship between SSE and FoT, (2) the effect of SSE on OTR, (3) the impact of TPG on OTR and (4) the effect of OTR on overall OCB.
Methodology: The study uses a mixed-method case study research style that included in-depth semi-structured interviews with 17 managers, an online questionnaire survey with 320 employees of the BOC and an analysis of the BOC’s Annual Reports from 2015 to 2018.
Results: The qualitative and quantitative findings indicate, firstly, that there is a significant interrelationship between SSE and FoT, establishing that SSE’s perception of organisational justice (OJ), including that FoTs benevolence and integrity as the most important factors in yielding employees’ trust in the BOC. Secondly, it has been established that SSEs have significant direct and indirect effects on OTR. Thirdly, negative and positive TPG concurrently occurred in the BOC and the prevalence of negative TPG poses more impact on OTR. Finally, this study’s findings demonstrated OTR’s effect in generating OCB, including that Civic Virtue was rated as the most preferred of the five OCB themes; this indicates the managers’ and the employees’ strong emotional attachment and support of the activities taking place at the BOC.
Contributions: Overall, this thesis substantially contributes to OTR literature, particularly in the context of the Middle East. It also proposes several insightful recommendations for future research and practical implications for practitioners in the field of Organisational Trust
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Production networks in the cultural and creative sector: case studies from the publishing industry
The CICERONE project investigates cultural and creative industries through case study research, with a focus on production networks. This report, part of WP2, examines the publishing industry within this framework. It aims to understand the industry’s hidden aspects, address statistical issues in measurement, and explore the industry’s transformation and integration of cultural and economic values. The report provides an overview of the production network, explores statistical challenges, and presents qualitative analyses of two case studies. It concludes by highlighting the potential of the Global Production Network (GPN) approach for analyzing, researching, policymaking, and intervening in the European publishing network.
The CICERONE project’s case study research delves into the publishing industry, investigating its production networks and examining key aspects often unseen by the public. The report addresses statistical challenges in measuring the industry and sheds light on its ongoing transformations and integration of cultural and economic values. It presents an overview of the production network, explores statistical issues, and provides qualitative analyses of two case studies. The report emphasizes the potential of the GPN approach for analyzing and intervening in the European publishing network, ultimately contributing to research, policymaking, and understanding within the industry
An empirical investigation of the relationship between integration, dynamic capabilities and performance in supply chains
This research aimed to develop an empirical understanding of the relationships between integration,
dynamic capabilities and performance in the supply chain domain, based on which, two conceptual
frameworks were constructed to advance the field. The core motivation for the research was that, at
the stage of writing the thesis, the combined relationship between the three concepts had not yet
been examined, although their interrelationships have been studied individually.
To achieve this aim, deductive and inductive reasoning logics were utilised to guide the qualitative
study, which was undertaken via multiple case studies to investigate lines of enquiry that would
address the research questions formulated. This is consistent with the author’s philosophical
adoption of the ontology of relativism and the epistemology of constructionism, which was considered
appropriate to address the research questions. Empirical data and evidence were collected, and
various triangulation techniques were employed to ensure their credibility. Some key features of
grounded theory coding techniques were drawn upon for data coding and analysis, generating two
levels of findings. These revealed that whilst integration and dynamic capabilities were crucial in
improving performance, the performance also informed the former. This reflects a cyclical and
iterative approach rather than one purely based on linearity. Adopting a holistic approach towards
the relationship was key in producing complementary strategies that can deliver sustainable supply
chain performance.
The research makes theoretical, methodological and practical contributions to the field of supply
chain management. The theoretical contribution includes the development of two emerging
conceptual frameworks at the micro and macro levels. The former provides greater specificity, as it
allows meta-analytic evaluation of the three concepts and their dimensions, providing a detailed
insight into their correlations. The latter gives a holistic view of their relationships and how they are
connected, reflecting a middle-range theory that bridges theory and practice. The methodological
contribution lies in presenting models that address gaps associated with the inconsistent use of
terminologies in philosophical assumptions, and lack of rigor in deploying case study research
methods. In terms of its practical contribution, this research offers insights that practitioners could
adopt to enhance their performance. They can do so without necessarily having to forgo certain
desired outcomes using targeted integrative strategies and drawing on their dynamic capabilities
The automatic processing of multiword expressions in Irish
It is well-documented that Multiword Expressions (MWEs) pose a unique challenge
to a variety of NLP tasks such as machine translation, parsing, information retrieval,
and more. For low-resource languages such as Irish, these challenges can be exacerbated by the scarcity of data, and a lack of research in this topic. In order to
improve handling of MWEs in various NLP tasks for Irish, this thesis will address
both the lack of resources specifically targeting MWEs in Irish, and examine how
these resources can be applied to said NLP tasks.
We report on the creation and analysis of a number of lexical resources as part
of this PhD research. Ilfhocail, a lexicon of Irish MWEs, is created through extract-
ing MWEs from other lexical resources such as dictionaries. A corpus annotated
with verbal MWEs in Irish is created for the inclusion of Irish in the PARSEME
Shared Task 1.2. Additionally, MWEs were tagged in a bilingual EN-GA corpus
for inclusion in experiments in machine translation. For the purposes of annotation, a categorisation scheme for nine categories of MWEs in Irish is created, based
on combining linguistic analysis on these types of constructions and cross-lingual
frameworks for defining MWEs.
A case study in applying MWEs to NLP tasks is undertaken, with the exploration of incorporating MWE information while training Neural Machine Translation
systems. Finally, the topic of automatic identification of Irish MWEs is explored,
documenting the training of a system capable of automatically identifying Irish
MWEs from a variety of categories, and the challenges associated with developing
such a system.
This research contributes towards a greater understanding of Irish MWEs and
their applications in NLP, and provides a foundation for future work in exploring
other methods for the automatic discovery and identification of Irish MWEs, and
further developing the MWE resources described above
Against Imperial Arbitrators: The Brilliance of Canada\u27s New Model Investment Treaty
Investment treaty arbitration has become politically “toxic” even in states that pioneered the development of investment treaties. There is consensus on the need for reform. But there is a dearth of historical research on what went wrong with investment treaties, when it happened, or how to find the way forward in light of the past. As a result, reform efforts have a stumbling quality. One can see this in multilateral fora, such as the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), where over four years of study and negotiations have produced little consensus. One can also see it in the investment treaty practice of individual states, such as Canada, which has recently lurched across the spectrum from investment treaty arbitration to a permanent international investment court, to the abandonment of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), and back to investment treaty arbitration. This article fills the gap in understanding by explaining what went wrong with investment treaty arbitration and when it happened. It demonstrates that the customary international law on state responsibility for injuries to aliens evolved during the 19th century to protect foreign investors against exceptional failures of the nightwatchman and rule-of-law states. As the consensus regarding customary international law standards of treatment unraveled during the 20th century due to the spread of communism, decolonization, and economic nationalism, capital-exporting states turned in bilateral investment treaties (BITs) to uphold traditional principles regarding the protection of foreign investment. Starting in the late 1990s, however, an unexpected surge of claims brought under NAFTA’s investment chapter fortuitously opened the door to the central problem of modern investment treaty practice: the rise of “imperial arbitrators” who do not merely police exceptional failures of the nightwatchman and rule-of-law states, but who choose to second-guess the normal operations of modern regulatory states without any meaningful checks or balances. Although the NAFTA Parties nipped that development in the bud, the rise of imperial arbitrators leapt to the broader universe of investment treaty arbitration, where it flourished until claims against developed states for measures such as the phaseout of nuclear power brought investment treaty arbitration to a crisis point. Seeking a way forward in light of the past, the article examines Canada’s recent experimentation with investment treaty reforms, including the development of a permanent international investment court in relations with the EU, the complete elimination of ISDS in relations with the United States, and a return to traditional investment treaty arbitration in a new model investment treaty coupled with substantive reforms that virtually eliminate opportunities to second-guess the normal operations of modern regulatory states. The article describes the last option as the most brilliant because it is the only one that substantively eliminates toeholds for imperial arbitrators while preserving arbitration as a safeguard against the exceptional failures of the nightwatchman and rule-of-law states. Seeking a way forward in light of the past, the article examines Canada’s recent experimentation with investment treaty reforms, including the development of a permanent international investment court in relations with the EU, the complete elimination of ISDS in relations with the United States, and a return to traditional investment treaty arbitration in a new model investment treaty coupled with substantive reforms that virtually eliminate opportunities to second-guess the normal operations of modern regulatory states. The article describes the last option as the most brilliant because it is the only one that substantively eliminates toeholds for imperial arbitrators while preserving arbitration as a safeguard against the exceptional failures of the nightwatchman and rule-of-law states
Trade Union Effectiveness in the UK Hospitality Sector: A Case Study Approach
This study investigates how union representation, management attitude, union membership, collective bargaining, and technological revolution affect trade union effectiveness in the UK hospitality industry. It specifically explores how internal organisational factors and trade union factors impact the effectiveness of trade unions in the UK hospitality sector, as well as how improvement in such effectiveness can benefit employers and employees in this sector.
An analysis of seven case studies of hotels in the UK was conducted, which included a total of 71 interviews with employees and hotel managers, seven meeting observations, and an analysis of documents from each hotel. All these data were analysed thematically using NVivo 12. Key findings revealed that two hotels were strongly unionised while the rest were weakly unionised. The unionised hotels had strong union representation, bargaining power and an adequate and growing union membership. The weakly unionised hotels had weak bargaining power and declining membership. Workers from weakly unionised hotels began to turn to management efficiency to seek resolutions for their concerns. Conversely, workers from strongly unionised hotels sought union representation to resolve their issues with the management. The study contributes a proposed conceptual framework of trade union effectiveness applied to the
seven case organisations
The integration of circular economy within corporate sustainability reporting: towards a framewok
Apesar da adoção crescente de iniciativas de desenvolvimento sustentável, as economias
baseadas no consumo e na extração de materiais e energia não conseguem abordar
questões globais como o esgotamento de recursos, as alterações climáticas e a perda de
biodiversidade. Como resultado, académicos e decisores políticos têm procurado vias
alternativas para a criação de valor económico e social, e que ao mesmo tempo minimizem
os impactes ambientais negativos. O modelo de economia circular (EC) de produção e
consumo, que promete transformar os sistemas económicos lineares, tem vindo a ser
rapidamente integrado nas iniciativas de sustentabilidade organizacional. As empresas
estão cada vez mais sensibilizadas para a transição para a EC, encarando como uma
oportunidade para implementar práticas inovadoras de responsabilidade social. Este
compromisso crescente das empresas em melhorar a implementação de estratégias e
práticas de EC exige o desenvolvimento de directrizes para assegurar uma comunicação
externa consistente e eficaz. Os relatórios de sustentabilidade permitem às empresas
mostrar não só ocompromisso com a sustentabilidade, mas também aumentar a
transparência das actividades empresariais. À medida que os modelos de EC ganham
presença no sector privado, os relatórios continuam a ser um canal de interação
privilegiada com as partes interessadas, assegurarando que as empresas estão a ser
responsabilizadas pela implementação dosobjectivos de sustentabilidade assumidos. Na
ausência de directrizes “normalizadas” para avaliar e comunicar a internalização da
circularidade na organização, não está a ser aproveitado todo o potencial da utilização de
relatórios como instrumento de apoio à transição para a sustentabilidade organizacional.
As evidências existentes sugerem uma baixa inclusão da EC nos relatórios de
sustentabilidade, e reforçam a existência de lacunas de investigação significativas sobre a
intersecção da EC com os relatórios de sustentabilidade.
Neste contexto, o presente trabalho de investigação visa explorar e apoiar a a
integração da EC nas práticas e abordagens associadas a relatórios de sustentabilidade
nas empresas. Para atingir este objectivo principal, foram equacionados quatro objectivos específicos de investigação: 1) investigar como é que a literatura existente e as abordagens
metodológicas associadas à conceção e operacionalização de relatórios de
sustentabilidade orientam as empresas na integração das questões de EC nos relatórios
de sustentabilidade; 2) analisar o conteúdo relacionado com EC presente nos relatórios de
sustentabilidade de empresas classificadas em rankings de sustentabilidade; 3) explorar as
perspectivas e experiências das empresas que divulgam conteúdos de EC nos relatórios
de sustentabilidade; 4) propor recomendações para melhorar o a comunicação dos
conteúdos de EC pelas empresas. Este trabalho segue uma concepção interpretativa e
indutiva da investigação, utilizando métodos qualitativos e quantitativos para a recolha e
análise de dados. Mais especificamente, as estratégias de investigação incluiram uma
revisão sistemática da literatura, análise de conteúdo, inquéritospor questionário,
entrevistas semi-estruturadas e grupos focais. A investigação ao ter sido baseada em
métodos mistos, incluindo a utilização de diferentes métodos de recolha de dados, permitiu
reforçar as principais conclusões obtidas neste estudo.
Os principais resultados deste trabalho de investigação são consubstanciados em
três artigos científicos, com o objectivo de contribuir para as discussões teóricas e práticas
sobre EC em relatórios de sustentabilidade de organizações empresariais. Dos resultados
do primeiro objectivo de investigação, verificou-se que a EC foi incluída apenas em cinco
dos quinze modelos e abordagens de relatórios de sustentabilidade analisados, e na
maioria das vezes incluídos como: i) um tema incluído voluntariamente e, apresentado
como material suplementar; ou ii) discutidos dentro de um único tópico: gestão de recursos
ou resíduos. Além disso, a EC é mais comummente descrita através da definição da
Fundação Ellen MacArthur e a responsabilidade pela selecção dos dados da EC continua
a ser da responsabilidade exclusiva da empresa, uma vez que não existem diretrizes ou
normas para este efeito. As conclusões sugerem também que as empresas que procuram
aconselhamento a partir destes modelos de apresentação de relatórios não irão muito
provavelmente reportar as questões da EC ou descreverão apenas qualitativamente as
actividades da EC sob uma perspectiva restrita, normalmente focada na gestão de
resíduos. Os resultados do segundo objectivo revelaram que, embora a EC esteja a ser
explicitamente mencionada em quase todos os relatórios de sustentabilidade analisados, o
conteúdo de EC é muito limitado e não está presente nas diferentes componentes do
relatório de sustentabilidade. Especificamente, CE é descrita na mensagem do presidente executivo em apenas 20% das empresas, e em 28% das avaliações de materialidade da
empresa. Além disso, observou-se que as empresas efetuam uma ligação superficial do
conteúdo da EC com os Objetivos do Desenvolvimento Sustentável, e sem qualquer
justificação quantitativa para a maioria dos casos. Relativamente a objectivos e indicadores
de EC, menos de um terço das empresas revelaram objectivos que focam sobretudo
iniciativas de circularidade de nível estratégico e indicadores que avaliam sobretudo
práticas de circularidade de escala operacional. Globalmente, estas conclusões destacam
duas visões de EC no âmbito das estratégias empresariais: 1) EC é um pilar importante; ou
2) EC é uma extensão (ou substituição) de temas associados às áreas de resíduos e/ou de
gestão. No âmbito do terceiro objectivo, as empresas investigadas destacaram sete
factores críticos para reportar EC, bem como identificaram vários desafios e benefícios
associados à comunicação externa dos dados de EC. Em relação à relevância e
exequibilidade do reporte de EC, as empresas evidenciaram que, em geral, o conteúdo de
EC é relevante para todos os elementos-chave do conteúdo dos relatórios de
sustentabilidade, contudo, consideraram os elementos de "Riscos e Oportunidades" e
"Desempenho de Sustentabilidade" como os menos exequíveis para desenvolver e divulgar
dados da EC. Os resultados do quarto objectivo de investigação traduziram-se por uma
série de recomendações práticas, relevantes para os profissionais que trabalham com
questões de EC, de relatórios de sustentabilidade e ainda aqueles envolvidos com a
sustentabilidade organizacional em geral. Em particular, as empresas devem dar prioridade
à identificação de riscos e oportunidades relacionadas com a EC, e reconhecer a hierarquia
das estratégias da EC ao medir e divulgar os respetivos dados. Devem ainda reconhecer a
EC como uma poderosa ferramenta de reporte no contexto da criação de valor empresarial
e assegurar que as metas relacionadas com a EC são acompanhadas por indicadores
relevantes para evitar potenciais alegações de ”greenwashing”.
No conjunto, os resultados desta investigação fornecem vários contributos para a
concretização do objectivo central: explorar e apoiar a necessária integração da EC no
âmbito das práticas e modelos de relatórios de sustentabilidade das empresas. Os
principais resultados demonstram que a integração da EC não só é uma evidência, como
está em rápida evolução no âmbito da elaboração de relatórios de sustentabilidade das
empresas. Esta investigação conclui com reflexões teóricas sobre as percepções
corporativas da EC e a sua relação com a sustentabilidade que emerge nos relatórios de sustentabilidade. Além disso, os resultados revelam várias sinergias e limitações entre as
percepções de valor dentro dos processos de EC e de criação de valor empresarial. Esta
investigação apresenta um primeira contributo para apoiar a integração da EC nos
processos de reporte da sustentabilidade das empresas, estabelecendo uma visão geral
das actuais tendências e fraquezas dos relatórios, ao mesmo tempo que destaca
numerosas oportunidades de trabalho futuro para facilitar e impulsionar a transparência na
transição para uma EC.Despite the mainstreaming of sustainable development initiatives, overconsuming and
extractive economies fail to address global issues such as resource depletion, climate
change and biodiversity loss. As a result, academics and policymakers have been looking
for alternative pathways to creating economic and societal value, whilst minimising adverse
environmental impacts. The circular economy (CE) model of production and consumption,
which promises to transform linear economic systems, is then rapidly being integrated within
organisational sustainability initiatives. Companies are increasingly viewing the transition
towards CE as an opportunity to implement innovative social responsibility practices. This
increased commitment from companies to improving their CE implementation demands the
development of guidelines to ensure meaningful and consistent external communication.
Sustainability reports allow companies to display not only their commitment to sustainability
but increase transparency of their business activities. As the CE model gains momentum in
the private sector, reporting remains a viable pathway for stakeholders to ensure companies
are being held accountable for achieving their sustainability objectives. With an absence of
standardised guidelines for assessing and publishing progress towards circularity, the full
potential of reporting as a tool to facilitate change towards improved corporate sustainability
is not being realised. Early evidence suggests a low uptake of CE within sustainability
reports and significant research gaps exist concerning the intersection of CE and
sustainability reporting.
Within this context, this research aims to explore and support the emergence of CE
within corporate sustainability reporting practices and approaches. To achieve this aim, four
research objectives are offered: 1) investigate how existent sustainability reporting
approaches and literature guide companies to include CE issues within their corporate
sustainability reports, 2) explore CE-related content within the corporate sustainability
reports of sustainably-ranked companies, 3) capture the perspectives and experiences of
companies disclosing CE within their corporate sustainability report and 4) provide
recommendations to improve the feasibility of companies disclosing CE content. This thesis
follows an interpretivist and inductive research design, utilising both qualitative and quantitative methods for data collection and analysis. More specifically, strategies include a
systematic literature review, multiple content analyses, semi-quantitative surveys, semistructured interviews and focus groups. By conducting a mixed methods study with multiple
data collection methods, the overall conclusions have been strengthened.
The main results from this thesis constitute three appended research articles, aiming
to contribute findings to both academic and industry discussions on CE. Within the outcomes
of the first objective, CE was found to be included within only five of the fifteen sustainability
reporting frameworks and approaches reviewed and most often included as: i) a voluntary
issue within supplementary material; or ii) discussed within a single topic: resource or waste
management. Furthermore, CE is most commonly described using the definition from the
Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the responsibility for CE-data selection remains the
responsibility of the company. The findings also suggest that companies seeking advice
from these reporting frameworks will most likely not report CE issues at all or only
qualitatively describe CE activities from a narrow waste management perspective. The
outputs of the second objective determined that whilst CE is being explicitly mentioned within
almost all of the sustainability reports analysed, very few integrated CE-content within each
of the examined sustainability report elements. Specifically, CE was described in the CEO’s
message of only 20% of companies and in 28% of the company’s materiality assessments.
Moreover, companies were observed to be linking CE content superficially with the SDGs,
with most instances being void of any quantitative justification. With respect to targets and
indicators for CE, less than one third of companies were found to disclose them, with targets
mostly measuring high-ranking circularity strategies and indicators mostly low-ranking
circularity strategies. Overall, these findings signal two main representations of CE within
corporate strategies: 1) CE is a major pillar; or 2) CE is an extension (or replacement) of
existing waste and/or management issues. Within the third objective, investigated
companies highlighted seven critical factors for CE disclosure, as well as several challenges
to- and benefits of- externally communicating their CE data. With respect to relevance and
feasibility, companies determined that generally, CE-content is relevant to all key content
elements of sustainability reports, however, found the elements of ‘Risks and Opportunities’
and ‘Sustainability Performance’ to be the least feasible to develop and disclose CE data
for. The outcomes of the fourth objective propose a number of practical recommendations
relevant for practitioners of CE, sustainability reporting and those involved with general corporate sustainability. In particular, companies should prioritise identifying CE-related
risks and opportunities, acknowledge the hierarchy of CE strategies when measuring and
disclosing CE data, recognise CE as a powerful storytelling tool within corporate value
creation and ensure that CE-related targets are accompanied by relevant indicators to avoid
potential claims of greenwashing.
Collectively, the chapters within this thesis provide numerous insights on achieving
the central aim: to explore and support the emergence of CE within corporate sustainability
reporting practices and approaches. In general, the findings of this research demonstrate
that the integration of CE is not only evident but rapidly evolving within corporate
sustainability reporting. This thesis concludes with theoretical reflections on the corporate
perceptions of CE and its relationship with sustainability emerging within sustainability
reports. Additionally, results reveal various synergies and limitations between perceptions
of value within a CE and corporate value creation processes. This research presents a first
attempt to support the integration of CE within corporate sustainability processes,
establishing an overview of current reporting trends and shortcomings whilst also
highlighting numerous opportunities for future work to facilitate and drive transparency within
the transition towards a CE.This research was supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 765198
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