Securing a business loan : how important is gender

This report examines the role of gender in business and evalates whether there is a evidence of gender bias when it comes to securing bank loans

The importance of interdisciplinary communication in the process of anticipatory prescribing

In the UK there has been a widespread introduction of ‘anticipatory prescribing’ in community based palliative care. This involves general practitioners (GPs) writing prescriptions in anticipation of them being needed and has been encouraged to try to minimise the risk of patients suffering uncontrolled symptoms and distress; a key reason why terminally ill patients are admitted to hospital in contradiction of most people's preferences. This paper presents the findings from an ethnographic study of healthcare professionals across four care homes and four community sites in two regions (East Midlands and Lancashire/South Cumbria) of the UK. Data were collected from a range of community health professionals, resulting in 83 episodes of observation and 72 interviews. Findings highlight how essential good interdisciplinary communication is to the process of anticipatory prescribing and end-of-life care. This study found that when interdisciplinary communication worked well the anticipatory prescribing process could be carried out smoothly, optimising patient care

PRISM: a consumer information processing model for housewife decision-making

This thesis describes a test of the applicability of a model developed from a qualitative study of a market for consumer nondurables to two other markets for consumer non-durables. The model was developed to explain the effect of public relations information on housewives 1 buying decisions. The results of two questionnaire surveys of fifty housewives each were analysed. Results from the first market study were to be confirmed by the second study before acceptance. The relationships specified in the model were not identified in the tests. It is suggested that the relationship between perceived risk and openness to information was not supported because of the low risk in the present studies and that relationships concerning usage strategies were not identified because it was not possible to group individual strategies. In the light of the results the problems of developing a generalisable model from a qualitative study of one situation and ways of tackling these problems are discussed. The advantages and disadvantages to the project of using a market research firm for the survey and of having commercial sponsors are identified. This thesis provides several criteria for distinguishing between the diverse conceptualisations of perceived risk reviewed. It points out why the uncertainty component and not the probability component is consistent with perceived risk theory. It shows that there is little conclusive evidence of a relationship between consumer perceived risk and information handling due to a lack of quality programmatic research, although that relationship is often held to be true. The above point highlights a general problem in consumer behaviour research exemplified by a lack of programmatic research, by exploratory studies which are not followed up and by many measures of concepts none of which are validated

Acoustic-phonetic and auditory mechanisms of adaptation in the perception of sibilant fricatives

Listeners are highly proficient at adapting to contextual variation when perceiving speech. In the present study, we examined the effects of brief speech and nonspeech contexts on the perception of sibilant fricatives. We explored three theoretically motivated accounts of contextual adaptation, based on phonetic cue calibration, phonetic covariation, and auditory contrast. Under the cue calibration account, listeners adapt by estimating a talker-specific average for each phonetic cue or dimension; under the cue covariation account, listeners adapt by exploiting consistencies in how the realization of speech sounds varies across talkers; under the auditory contrast account, adaptation results from (partial) masking of spectral components that are shared by adjacent stimuli. The spectral center of gravity, a phonetic cue to fricative identity, was manipulated for several types of context sound: /z/-initial syllables, /v/-initial syllables, and white noise matched in long-term average spectrum (LTAS) to the /z/-initial stimuli. Listeners’ perception of the /s/–/ʃ/ contrast was significantly influenced by /z/-initial syllables and LTAS-matched white noise stimuli, but not by /v/-initial syllables. No significant difference in adaptation was observed between exposure to /z/-initial syllables and matched white noise stimuli, and speech did not have a considerable advantage over noise when the two were presented consecutively within a context. The pattern of findings is most consistent with the auditory contrast account of short-term perceptual adaptation. The cue covariation account makes accurate predictions for speech contexts, but not for nonspeech contexts or for the absence of a speech-versus-nonspeech difference

Do We Truly Sacrifice Truth for Simplicity: Comparing Complete Individual Randomization and Semi-Randomized Approaches to Survey Administration

Human-computer interaction researchers have long used survey methodologies. However, debate remains about the potential for participants to provide biased responses to subsequent items based on previously viewed items. In this research, we investigate the effects of survey item ordering that researchers have not studied previously. Grounded in previous exploratory item-ordering studies using an HCI online survey, we investigate bias in more detail. In addition, we use an adult sample population so that we can extend our results more broadly as compared to previous research. We employed two distinct randomizing survey approaches: 1) complete item randomization for each respondent (random), which presents items to each respondent in a completely randomized order; and 2) partially individualized item randomization (grouped), which presents constructs in the same order in a survey but randomizes items in each construct for each respondent. Our results suggest researchers should use fully randomized survey instruments in HCI research whenever possible since grouped ordering of any kind increases bias and statistical inflation, which can influence results’ veracity. Additionally, we did not appear to find any significant increase in the participants’ frustration or fatigue to be associated with the random treatment

Festival literature : the role of the entrepreneur

Festival Literature: The Role of the Entrepreneur Aim of the Paper The aim of this paper is to analyse studies on festivals and identify research gaps relevant to small business research. Festivals play a significant role in the lives of communities providing important activities and spending outlets for locals and visitors and enhancing the image of local communities (Getz 1993). Successful community-based festivals are growing in increasing numbers and concentrate on a range of particular interests (Getz, 2010). Despite this, researchers have been slow to consider contemporary festivals beyond either their economic impacts or the motivations of those who attend (Gursoy et al 2004). An area which has received little, if any attention from extant literature is that festivals are highly dependent on the driving forces of key individuals, often entrepreneurs, acting within festival networks which support their emergence and occurrence on a regular basis (Getz 1993; Getz et al 2010; Gursoy et al 2004). Background Literature The literature on festivals has been dominated by economic concerns, as well as operational and marketing issues (Robinson et al 2004). Little, if any prior research has extended understanding of festivals beyond basic economic and tourism matters (Quinn 2009). Prior research on festivals has demonstrated the positive impact which festivals can have on tourism, providing spending opportunities, attracting often significant additional money into local communities and regions and ultimately generating new employment opportunities (Crompton and McKay 1997; Kim et al 1998; Thrane 2002). Such research has also observed the wider, societal effects which local, community-based festivals can have, for example, on perceptions of place and locale (Getz 1997). Methodology This paper seeks to examine the depth and breadth of published research on festivals and adopts a systematic approach to the review presented (Victor 2008). Using definitions proposed by Uysal and Gitleson (1994) and Getz (1997), key terms were identified to establish our conceptual boundaries and to restrict the focus of our search. Results and Implications A key focus of research in this area is the outcomes and successes of festivals, with economic impact receiving most attention (Crompton and Mackay 1997; Kim et al 1998). A number of studies have emphasised the importance of understanding why people attend festivals arguing that only by developing an understanding of such motivations can organisers’ effectively position and market festivals (Crompton and McKay 1997; Getz 1993). A final key theme emerging from the literature analysed is that of festival management. This paper identifies research gaps and areas for further studies on festivals. Gaps of particular interest to entrepreneurship are the creation of festivals and the characteristics of their founders; the role of networks and key actors in those networks; and processes which are largely ignored in the existing literature, despite the reality that festivals are, by and large, a repeated event. Finally, we propose that place is an important construct to take into account. We suggest that theoretical frameworks applied in entrepreneurship are useful lenses to aid understanding of these themes. In particular we identify network theories, the concept of embeddedness (Granovetter, 1985) and capital theory (Bourdieu, 1986) as relevant theoretical frameworks. We also see parallels with the emerging literature on social entrepreneurship (Shaw and Carter 2007) and community ventures (Haugh and Pardy 1999; Peredo and Chrisman 2006). Methodologically, research has been dominated by single case studies undertaken at one point in time. We suggest that future research will benefit by embracing longitudinal studies involving ethnographic approaches which can explore context both from temporal and community or locale perspective. This allows real-time study of emerging festival processes and seeks out actors within the phenomena (Davidsson 2003). The recommendations for future research offered by this paper will help advance understanding of festival studies from an entrepreneurship perspective. In particular the paper contributes to the discourse on festival entrepreneurs, their roles, contributions and the processes involved

The process of embedding a small firm in its industrial context

This article explores the activities involved in embedding a small firm in its industrial context. Inductive analysis of longitudinal, case study data collected from a small firm in the creative industries highlights the use of networks and networking as embedding mechanisms. Key emergent themes include the impacts of pre-embeddedness (defined as the sum of all cultural, social and symbolic capital accessible to the founding team prior to business start-up), the vision and network orientation of the founding team and their strategic use of networking. The interplay between these conditions and activities is revealed as important in building legitimacy, which is critical for embedding a firm in its industrial context. This article extends knowledge of embedding beyond the initial phase of new venture creation and highlights the emergent and evolving dynamics behind this process