Women business owners’ start-up motivations and network content

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how women small business owners’ (SBOs) business start-up motivations influence their network content. Design/methodology/approach – Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 28 women SBOs who were recruited through purposeful sampling methods. Interview data on their start-up motivations were used to categorise them into three types: classic, forced and work-family. The interviews explored the network contents of the three categories of participants. Findings – There were many similarities between network contents of classic and forced SBOs, as both groups had started their business for financial reasons rather than family reasons. All the participants’ networks contained information and advice, economic transactions, intangible support and strong ties. However, the sources and types of network content were different for the classic and forced SBOs when compared to work-family SBOs. Research limitations/implications – This study has limitations that tend to be commonly found in exploratory studies, such as a small sample size. However, the findings lay the groundwork for future quantitative studies that examine associations between SBOs’ motivations for starting a business and their network contents. Originality/value – This research responds to calls for studies aimed at developing a more nuanced understanding of SBOs’ networking behaviour. The study provides empirical evidence of a relationship between the motivations for starting a business and the network content of SBOs. The findings can be used by businesswomen’s network organisations in their mentoring and training interventions. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Regional small businesses’ personal and inter-firm networks

© 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of personal and inter-firm networks and the elements that contribute to the formation and management of these networks for regional small businesses. Design/methodology/approach: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 small business owners located in regional areas. Findings: The findings highlight key characteristics of regional small business owners’ networks. Findings indicated that participants relied strongly on their personal networks for business purposes. This study shows that while personal networks adapted and changed into informal inter-firm networks, weak-tie relations within inter-firm networks were unlikely to develop into close personal networks. Novel findings also include a preference for “regional interactions” and included regular collaboration with local business competitors. Although the participants used social media to manage their business through personal networks, results confirmed there was a lack of awareness of the benefits of inter-firm networks with businesses outside the local region. Originality/value: While it is acknowledged small business owners use personal and inter-firm connections to maintain and grow their business, there is a lack of research examining both of these networks in the same study. This research addresses this gap and presents five propositions as a useful direction for future research. This paper adds to the evolution of existing knowledge by expanding understanding of the formation of business networks and conditions of business trust relations within a regional context

Predicting attitude towards performance enhancing substance use: A comprehensive test of the Sport Drug Control Model with elite Australian athletes

Objectives: This study presents a comprehensive examination of the Sport Drug Control Model via survey data of elite Australian athletes. Design: A cross-sectional nationwide mail survey. Methods: A mail survey of 1237 elite Australian athletes was conducted. Structural equation modelling was employed to test the model. Results: Morality (personal moral stance on performance-enhancing substances use), reference group opinion (perceived moral stance of reference group on performance-enhancing substances use) and legitimacy (perceptions of the drug testing and appeals processes) evidenced significant relationships with attitude towards performance-enhancing substances use, which in turn was positively associated with doping behaviour. The model accounted for 81% and 13% of the variance in attitude towards performance-enhancing substances use and doping behaviour, respectively. Conclusions: These findings validate the usefulness of the Sport Drug Control Model for understanding influences on performance-enhancing substances use. Nevertheless, there is a need to survey athletes representing a broader range of competition levels and cross-cultural research to test the model’s applicability to other populations of athletes

Using the critical incident technique to research decision making regarding access to training and development in medium-sized enterprises

Employees in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) form part of a \u27disadvantaged\u27 group within the workforce that receives less access to training and development (T & D) than employees in large firms. Prior research into reasons for the relatively low levels of employee participation in training and development has typically involved surveys of owner/manager opinions. A novel and potentially more fruitful line of inquiry is investigating decisions managers have actually made regarding employee access to T & D. Building on this idea, we describe how the critical incident technique (CIT) was applied in our exploratory study of managerial decision making regarding employee access to training and development in medium-sized enterprises. We also discuss lessons learned in conducting the study. These lessons are based on an analysis of our experiences of using the CIT and are potentially important for researchers who will be using the technique to study similar topics in the years ahead

Decision making regarding access to training and development in medium-sized enterprises: an exploratory study using the critical incident technique

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of factors that impinge on managerial decision-making processes regarding employee access to structured training and development (T&D) opportunities that are at least partially funded by the firm. Design/methodology/approach – Semi-structured interviews incorporating the Critical Incident Technique (CIT) were conducted with 14 managers of medium-sized enterprises based in Perth, Western Australia. The interviews explored decisions managers have actually made regarding employee access to T&D and yielded 42 useable critical incidents that served as the unit of analysis. Findings – There were three key findings: first, employee access to T&D was initiated primarily by managers; employees did not exhibit developmental proactivity. Regulatory requirements and performance deficits were the main factors triggering T&D. Second, decisions regarding employee access to T&D were influenced by a wider range of factors than the decision making factors that commonly feature in literature that discusses “barriers” to T&D in SMEs. Third, decision makers tended to neglect the evaluation phase of the decision making process and engaged in post-decisional justification. Research limitations/implications – The study holds a number of lessons that are based on an analysis of the authors\u27 experiences of using the CIT. The lessons are potentially important for researchers who will be using the technique to study similar topics in the years ahead. Originality/value – This study addresses the lack of research into factors that affect managers\u27 decisions when they consider providing employee access to firm-sponsored structured T&D opportunities. It also assesses the effectiveness of the CIT as a tool for studying managerial decision-making processes regarding employee access to T&D opportunities

Decision Making Regarding Employee Access to Training and Development in Medium-sized Enterprises

Employees in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) form part of a ‘disadvantaged’ group within the workforce that receives less access to formal training and development than employees in large firms. The manager’s decisional role is critical when considering employee access to training and development. Unfortunately, there is scant research into factors affecting managers’ decisions regarding employee access to a requested development opportunity in SMEs. To address this research gap, semi-structured interviews incorporating critical incidents were conducted with a purposive sample of 12 managers of medium-sized enterprises based in Perth. We report key findings of the interviews and assess the effectiveness of the Critical Incident Technique (CIT) as a tool for studying managerial decision making processes regarding employee access to training and development opportunities

Remembering the victim of a monster

SUNGAI PETANI: A large crowd turned up at the Wat Damrong Ratanaram (also known as Wat Siam) in Kampung Raja here for a gathering to remember Chee Gaik Yap, a 25-year-old who was raped and murdered in 2006.Those gathered there also listed five demands, including for the police to find and punish the culprit.A car salesman charged with murderrape has since been acquitted

Choledochal Cyst and Chronic Pancreatitis — Treated by Proximal Pancreatectomy

A 32-year-old woman with a choledochal cyst (Todani type I) developed recurrent acute pancreatitis leading to calcific chronic pancreatitis. She had previously been treated with two cyst drainage procedures and subtotal cyst excision. This association between choledochal cyst and chronic pancreatitis has not been previously reported. Severe continuing symptoms led to pylorus-preserving proximal pancreatoduodenectomy, which was undertaken to prevent future carcinoma in the cyst remnant and progression of the chronic pancreatiti