• A mixed methods empirical exploration of UK consumer perceptions of trust, risk and usefulness of mobile payments

      Hampshire, Chris; University of Chester (Emerald, 2017-05-15)
      Exploring UK consumer perceptions of trust, risk and perceived usefulness of mobile payments through the use of sequential mixed methods.
    • A Preliminary Situational Analysis of the Queen's English Society

      Pownall, Ian; Chester Business School (2018-11-06)
      The Queen’s English Society (QES), founded in 1972, is a small charity organisation operating within the UK. This report was requested by the Organising Committee (OC) as a situational analysis. It therefore seeks to offer initial recommendations for the OC to reflect upon based upon a mix of secondary data, author observations and convenience sampling on competitive data. The findings and recommendations presented in the report are as follows: 1) Seek collaborative arrangements with complementary voluntary organisations that can provide access to much needed capabilities in both marketing and digital activities. 2) Develop an attractive ‘hard’ offer in the marketplace whilst also developing supportive strategies to maximise available human resources that are currently under-utilised. 3) Develop as a matter of urgency alternative revenue streams – with patrons and corporate clients in particular. 4) Secure a clear understanding of member motivations for joining and leaving QES. Presently there is no information available on the market segment served by the society. 5) Revisit the membership structure so that it aligns with the actual social group operations of QES
    • A review of composite product data interoperability and product life-cycle management challenges in the composites industry

      Leong, Kelvin; Sung, Anna; McMillan, Alison J.; Swindells, Norman; Archer, Edward; McIlhagger, Alistair; Jones, Rhys; University of Chester, Glyndwr University, Ferroday Limited, Ulster University, Monash University, Axis Composites Limited (Taylor & Francis, 2017-10-30)
      A review of composite product data interoperability and product life-cycle management challenges is presented, which addresses “Product Life-cycle Management”, developments in materials. The urgent need for this is illustrated by the life-cycle management issues faced in modern military aircraft, where in-service failure of composite parts is a problem, not just in terms of engineering understanding, but also in terms of the process for managing and maintaining the fleet. A demonstration of the use of ISO 10303-235 for a range of through-life composite product data is reported. The standardization of the digital representation of data can help businesses to automate data processing. With the development of new materials, the requirements for data information models for materials properties are evolving, and standardization drives transparency, improves the efficiency of data analysis, and enhances data accuracy. Current developments in Information Technology, such as big data analytics methodologies, have the potential to be highly transformative.
    • A study into the factors influencing the choice-making process of Indian students when selecting an international university for graduate studies using grounded theory

      O'Brien, Ann; Webb, Paul; Page, Steve; Proctor, Tony; University of Delft ; University of Chester ; University of Chester ; University of Chester (2007-07)
      Universities operate in an increasingly competitive market place facing new and complex socio-technical and economical challenges. For many universities international student recruitment is desirable and necessary for survival. Universities knowledge in this area is often an imperfect tool as the changing environment and diversity of cultures with which it must interact challenge previous assumptions and common wisdom. The overall goal of this study is to identify those factors responsible for influencing Indian students’ choice of international university for graduate studies. The results are based on a longitudinal study that was carried out using the Grounded Theory research method. This qualitative methodology provides a good framework for rigorous and relevant research of emerging phenomena in student mobility. Primary data consisted of unstructured interviews, focus groups and questionnaire surveys among participants of the sample population. The literature was used as a source of secondary data. A narrative style and thick description were used to report the research findings. Four major influencers emerged from the analysis, which are referred to as programme content, international reputation, funding and job prospects and quality. Drawing together these findings the study examines the implications for recruiting graduate students from India and reveals that there are a number of ways in which the university can influence the choice-making process. The results clearly provide a sound basis for future study.
    • Academic Integrity and Debt Literacy of Finance Students: A Cross-national Study

      Leong, Kelvin; Sung, Anna; Cwynar, Andrzej; Cwynar, Wiktor; Szuba, Przemysław; Ostrowska-Dankiewicz, Anna; Manuel Leite da Silva, Paulino; Martynyuk, Volodymyr; University of Chester, University of Economics and Innovation, Exacto Sp. z o.o, Politechnika Rzeszowska, ISCAP (Porto), Ternopil National Economic University (Mendel University in BRNO, 2018-03-22)
      The purpose of the paper is to assess – based on a cross-national survey – academic integrity and debt literacy of finance students vis a vis their non-finance peers. Financial crises can be driven by both unethical actions of finance professionals and low financial literacy on either side of financial markets, as shown by the recent global crisis. Therefore, we checked whether these two issues are addressed at universities, where finance students are prepared to become future financial professionals. Additional goal is to learn factors related to academic integrity and debt literacy among university students. The study is based on self-reports of 1,022 students from 5 countries on their academic integrity and debt literacy (convenience sample, self- administered survey). We used categorical regression models, along with non-parametric statistical tests, to analyse the survey responses. We did not find support for the hypothesis that finance students were more dishonest than their non-finance peers. Yet, we established that the debt literacy of finance students is alarmingly low, though higher than the debt literacy of other students. This raises many concerns regarding the preparedness of todayǯs students to make well-informed financial decisions and to perform as finance professionals in the future. The results of this study indicate shortcomings in the education of the finance elite and, therefore, call for a remedy.
    • Accounting and Sustainable Development: A Case of Poverty Reduction in an Emerging Economy

      Nagirikandalage, Padmi; University of Chester
      Accounting has been widely used in both public and private sectors across the globe for the sustainable development of corporates as well as economies. However, in the recent past, there has been a wide discussion on poverty reduction and public sector accounting reforms especially in emerging economies in order to enhance the transparency in government expenditure, auditing and accountability as well. Since the governments are responsible on providing essential public services which have a greater impact on poverty, adequate measures in place to monitor the spending is vital for any country with an emerging economy. Moreover, according to the United Nations Millennium Development goals (MDGs) especially on reducing poverty, governments may require to recruit more employees for public sector to fill the gaps in the service in many essential areas such as education, health, and agriculture. Additionally, the recent past financial crisis and recession also have impacted on poverty reduction programs within emerging economies especially which are prone to corruption, fraud, and lack of transparency on government expenditures as well. Due to these various reasons, some emerging economies such as that of Sri Lanka are struggling to minimize the huge budget deficit of the government while leaving with less money for poverty reduction within the country as well. Therefore, unless these gaps are filled, many people in emerging economies will continue to live in poverty (Tridico 2009).
    • Across the Continents: the Global Reach of Public Affairs

      Harris, Phil; University of Chester (Wiley, 2016-05-03)
      Editorial. Public affairs has grown from an industry and research base focused on North America and Europe to one reflecting the world and incorporating the growing consumer strength and development of Asia. When we launched this journal a decade ago, it was dominated by North American research and practice, reflecting much of the then existent economic and cultural hegemony. Increasingly, this was balanced by European contributions as the European Union evolved, and the UK lobbying and communications industry developed alongside its Commonwealth connected partners. This general issue reflects the new world with authors, contributing from Brazil, China, Ghana, Italy, Kenya, Korea, Pakistan, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, the UK and the USA. It allows one to evaluate and assess similar issues in each region and state and the campaigns and policy development to aid clarity, accountability, good governance and transparency. Commentary to various papers covering China, Etc.
    • Action research to reassess the acceptance and use of technology in a blended learning approach amongst postgraduate business students

      Sanusi, Muhammad S.; University of Chester (Taylor & Francis, 2022-11-18)
      Although the pedagogy of blended learning in higher education has been well-accepted since 2000, its dimension has been changing, mainly due to the incessant technological innovations. The impact recorded on students’ experience has been reliant on various factors. Some of these factors are cultural diversity, technical abilities, level of organisational support, language difficulties, educational background, learning environment, and instructional design, among others. In this study, the acceptance and use of technology by international MBA students have been reassessed in the blended learning environment. The motivation for the selection of the cohort of international MBA students as a sample was to enable the inclusion of diversity as one of the focal points of the study. A two-cycle model of action research was adopted to reassess the use of technology and compare the attainment of learning outcomes between the blended and traditional learning approaches. Moreover, multiple regressions were employed using the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) to test the significance of each variable collected from the survey on the students’ learning experience and engagement. Our results have suggested that students’ engagement is determined by positive learning experience without any bias toward traditional or blended learning approach. Students’ age group was found to be relevant in the determination of behavioural intention, social influence, effort expectancy, performance expectancy and facilitating conditions towards the effective use of technology and blended learning. Students’ gender was an irrelevant factor in the success of a blended learning approach.
    • Age-related differences when measuring political hypocrisy

      Prete, M. Irene; Guido, Gianluigi; Pichierri, Marco; Harris, Phil; University of Salento; University of Bologna; University of Chester (Wiley, 2018-04-16)
    • The ambidextrous interaction of RBV-KBV and Regional Social Capital and their impact on SME management

      Kraus, Patrick; Stokes, Peter; Tarba, Shlomo Y.; Rodgers, Peter; Dekel-Dachs, Ofer; Britzelmaier, Bernd; Moore, Neil; Pforzheim University; De Montfort University; University of Birmingham; University of Southampton; Loughborough University; University of Chester (Elsevier, 2022-01-18)
      This paper argues that regional culture, encompassed within intricate forms of social capital, is inextricably linked to the resource-based view (RBV) concept - focused on inimitable resources possessed by a firm. These resources encompass knowledge (pertaining to the knowledge-based view (KBV)) – including the cultural knowledge and understandings that reside in a given region - as a key resource that is available to a firm, creating resources in order to render it competitive. The paper conceptually develops RBV-KBV within an organizational ambidexterity framework and highlights how regional context, RBV-KBV and firm dynamics inter-operate. This responds to an important gap in the literature, underscoring the vital role of regional contextualised RBV-KBV. Rather than viewing these contexts as taken-as-given artefacts it is important to see them as culturally, socially, and historically constructed and rooted phenomena. Drawing empirically on a series of semi-structured interviews conducted with German manufacturing SMEs in the Baden-Württemberg (BW) region (SW Germany), this paper provides novel insights into how SMEs manage resources and regional social capital in order to expand judiciously into international (emerging) markets. In so doing, the paper presents a novel organizational ambidextrous conceptual framework showing how companies move from traditional exploitative and conservative regional cultural RBV-KBV bases to more explorative and innovative internationalising ones. Within this, the paper also contributes fresh insights into the explorative ‘hidden champions’ phenomenon by showing how the latent BW conservative RBV-KBV and its regional social capital-informed exploitative postures act as persistent moderating drivers of explorative internationalisation.
    • An Institutional Perspective on Entrepreneurship in a Conflict Environment: Evidence from Pakistan

      Muhammad, Noor; Ullah, Farid; Warren, Lorraine; Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute (GIKI) Pakistan; University of Chester; Massey University, New Zealand (Emerald, 2016-06-02)
      Purpose: In this paper, an institutional perspective is used to examine the different kinds of pressures on entrepreneurs manifest in a conflict environment. The study investigates how they respond to the conflict and establish legitimacy for their entrepreneurship in the challenging context of the north western areas of Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach In this study, a qualitative approach is taken based on semi-structured interviews from 16 different firms in the SWAT valley. Findings The entrepreneurs undertake different strategies towards dealing with conflict and establishing legitimacy. These strategies are identified and examined in relation to the interactions between entrepreneurial behaviour and institutional pressures. Research limitations/implications Qualitative research on a small sample inevitably presents a limitation on the generalisability of this work. Further research could employ quantitative methods to address this issue. One particular location is studied, so future research could be carried out in other countries or regions with similar problems. Practical implications The study may have value for policy makers who need to know more about how to support ongoing businesses in conflictual regions. Social implications Better understanding of the needs of small business may in time contribute to a better business climate in conflictual regions. Originality/value A new dimension is added to institutional theory through its application in the very uncertain environment between all out war and ongoing violence, identifying the possibility of weak agency for institutional change. Further, the study contributes to the growing body of literature on entrepreneurship in conflict environments. Keywords: Conflict, institutions, SMEs, Pakistan, entrepreneur, legitimacy Paper Type: Research paper
    • An Overview of Modern China's Changing Economy,Business & Managemnt Video Collection, Sage Publications

      Harris, Phil; University of Chester (SAGE Knowledge, 2016-08-01)
      Professor Phil Harris discusses modern China and its changing economy. China's economy is a large consumer economy with a rising middle class, and it is emerging as a tourist destination
    • Animal cruelty, foie gras, pigeons, aid policy and public affairs

      Harris, Phil; University of Chester (Wiley, 2016-11-22)
      This is a general issue of the Journal of Public Affairs. It includes articles examining a range of subjects, from development aid policy to concern about perception of pigeons and policy towards specialist products.
    • Antecedents of destination advocacy using symmetrical and asymmetrical modeling techniques

      Ali, Faizan; Turktarhan, Gozde; Chen, Xianglan; Ali, Murad; University of South Florida; University of Chester; Beijing Language and Culture University; Northumbria University (Taylor & Francis, 2022-12-16)
      This study uses a multi-method approach to examine antecedents of destination advocacy. Data were collected from 549 respondents via Amazon MTurk. A symmetrical analysis based on partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and asymmetrical analysis based on fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis explore how combinations of various antecedents, including hospitality, perceived authenticity, destination experience quality, and destination love lead to high and low levels of destination advocacy. Findings indicate that hospitality and authenticity significantly impact destination experience quality. Moreover, destination experience quality and destination love have a significant impact on destination advocacy. Finally, fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) results reveal that a high level of hospitality and destination quality leads to destination advocacy.
    • Are we any closer to sustainable development? Listening to active stakeholder discourses of tourism development in the Waterberg Biosphere Reserve, South Africa.

      Lyon, Andrew; Hunter-Jones, Philippa; Warnaby, Gary; University of Chester; University of Liverpool; Manchester Metropolitan University (Elsevier, 2017-02-24)
      ‘Biosphere reserve’ is a United Nations (UN) designation stipulating that a region should attempt to follow the principles of sustainable development (SD). This paper adopts a stakeholder analysis framework to analyse the discourses of those tourism stakeholders who can actively affect SD in the Waterberg Biosphere Reserve (WBR), South Africa. Adopting an inductive qualitative methodology generated multiple research themes which were subsequently analysed using critical discourse analysis (CDA) techniques. These themes indicate that seeking SD in biosphere reserves is problematical when there are distinct ideological differences between active stakeholder groups and power relations are unequal. Adopting CDA allows us to make some sense of why this is the case as the technique appreciates not only how tourism development occurs, but also why it occurs in a particular way. This paper adds to the literature on stakeholder analysis in tourism specifically and also has wider implications for SD more generally.
    • Automated Hyperlink Text Analysis of City Websites: Projected Image Representation on the Web

      Weismayer, Christian; Pezenka, Ilona; Loibl, Wilhelm (Springer, 2016-01-23)
      The objective of this study is to identify the image representations of 75 European cities on the Web. As an effective image positioning strategy will result in successful differentiation from competitors, it is crucial for tourism destinations to regularly examine their image. This study focuses on the supply-side of destination image formation and is therefore concerned with analysing the projected destination image. Hyperlink text of DMO websites was collected automatically by a crawler. The text was then edited and filtered. Latent semantic dimensions were generated by applying PCA. A hierarchical cluster approach revealed different groups of hyperlink terms. Finally, the co-occurrence of terms and cities was displayed in a joint-map indicating which groups of hyperlink terms are over- or underrepresented for each of the cities. This information permits conclusions regarding the projected image of the cities.
    • Balancing exploration and exploitation in public management: Proposal for an organizational model

      Palmi, Pamela; Corallo, Angelo; Prete, M. Irene; Harris, Phil; University of Salento; University of Chester (Wiley, 2020-08-05)
      Over the last 30 years, a wave of reforms has reshaped the panorama of public administrations around the world, which have also stimulated debates on the subject reform in public sector relations. Much research has focused on discussing the validity of New Public Management (NPM) as a paradigm, including the recognition of regional versions of a number of universal problems in the Public Governance, NPM, and Public Value areas. This debate is focused on the need to give concrete answers to the new management needs of policy makers and to the growing demands of citizens. Increasingly public administration is based on meeting two needs: society requires creative, flexible, and innovation-oriented approaches, whilst economic pressures and budget cuts are forcing uses and models oriented toward efficiency, competitiveness, and cost savings. As regard the changing requirements of the public government, the new organizational system needs to incorporate the creativity, innovation capacity, and flexibility necessary to achieve sustainability and public value. The purpose of this research is to offer an organizational model, which balances exploration activities with those of exploitation, thus being able to meet the changing needs within the Administration, and the actions envisaged for its operations. This article also introduces the requirements for a decision support system to measure regional performance and service quality. It is hoped that we add to our knowledge and understanding of coordinated public policy and good governance that is effective even in these radically demanding Covid-19 times.
    • Behavioural Economics and Social Economics: Opportunities for an Expanded Curriculum

      Manning, Paul; University of Chester (Emerald, 2019-08-12)
      The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) undermined the legitimacy of orthodox economic assumptions, which nevertheless continue to frame business school pedagogy. In consequence, there is an opportunity for socio-economic insights to be more fully incorporated into the business school curriculum. This article reports and reflects on a socio-economic case study that was delivered to MBA students. The article demonstrates that the developing literature on behavioural economics has the potential to enhance students’ social-economic understanding of key areas of the curriculum. The paper presents an inter-disciplinary socio-economic teaching case that was informed by insights from behavioural economics. The teaching case concerned a socio-economic understanding of corruption and white-collar crime. It was also inter-disciplinary to include inputs from business history and criminology. The aim of the teaching case was to develop an appreciation among students that corruption and white-collar crime can be analyzed within a social economics lens. The teaching case example discussed in this article offered an alternative socio-economic understanding to core areas of the MBA curriculum, enabling students to apply a behavioural economic approach to corruption and more generally to white-collar-crime. The findings derived from this case study is that behavioural l economics has the potential to enhance the teaching of socio-economics. The GFC presents an opportunity to re-shape the business school curriculum to acknowledge the centrality of socio-economics and consequently to offer an alternative to the dominant ontological assumptions -taken from the economic understanding of rationality-that have previously under-pinned business school pedagogy. The originality of this article is to apply behavioural economics to a socio-economic teaching case studies in core subject areas of the MBA curriculum.
    • Benchlearning; Good Examples as a Lever for Development, Book Review

      Manning, Paul; The University of Liverpool
      Book Review
    • Beyond learning by doing: an exploration of critical incidents in outdoor leadership education

      Hickman, Mark; Stokes, Peter; UCLan and University of Chester (Taylor & Francis, 2015-08-03)
      This paper argues that outdoor leader education and training is generally characterized by the development of procedural skills at the expense of equally crucial but usually ignored, ‘soft skills’ (for example, contextualized decision making and reflection). Consequently, this risks producing practitioners with a potentially unsophisticated and limited awareness of the holistic outdoor environments and situations and an over-reliance on ‘how to’ skills which may, in turn, impede the development of links between theory and practice. This paper analyses a research project that undertook the application of critical incident theory to a study of undergraduates in a United Kingdom outdoor leadership degree programme in an attempt to promote and examine the processes of developing ‘softer’ reflective skills in the students. In addition, the paper’s argument and data, while not directly dealing with wider audiences (clients and national qualification bodies), provide inferences and allusions to potential consequent enhanced development and benefits of heightened reflective understanding and practice to these groups. Methodologically, the study examines a range of critical incidents in a purposive homogenous sample of 20 students from a vocational undergraduate outdoor studies course. Students were asked to identify and reflect on critical incidents in practice settings of their own choice. These settings spanned a range of contexts from outdoor centre work in the United Kingdom to assistant leadership positions on educational expeditions in remote locations overseas. Qualitative data analysis was carried out through the use of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). The findings supported the conceptual premise and indicated that outdoor leadership programmes need to develop a broader and holistic skills base rather than persist with the extant predilection towards primarily physical and technical skills. Allusion is made to the suggestion that this could ultimately potentially enhance effectiveness with clients and employability prospects. In summary, a focus on critical incident method early in education and training processes has the potential to equip practitioners with the holistic and complex set of skills required in the contemporary outdoor workplace.