RSS 1.0Faculty of Arts, Business and Social Sciences
Recent Submissions
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Gathering Press: towards environmentally resonant pedagogiesThis practice-led paper considers the ongoing cartography and emerging pedagogies of Gathering Press, a roving screen-printing project moving within the Black Country, West Midlands, UK. The text considers the inter-relations between people, place and making, drawing upon feminist geographers and educators to explore how a resource that is unhinged from a single location can develop opportunities for community learning that are attentive to the specificities of place. From the local market and library to the canal-side, the layered and incremental moments of doing and making are embodied through a pedagogy of place and placemaking in which one scenario takes the process to somewhere else. This example mentioned initiates a discussion on the nature of the press as an object that becomes more fully itself afterwards.
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Corporate egoism: an investigation of business ethics in the South-Western Nigerian banking industryThe normative theory of ethical egoism has been widely applied in management studies, and there is an increasing number of organisations subscribing to its core tenet of best interest and self-interest. Using ethical egoism and ethical impact theory, this article examines the reality of business ethics and ethical professionalism in the Nigerian banking sector by focusing on the different targets set by banks for their employees and the impacts thereof on their work and non-work lives. We present the findings of interviews with 47 present and past bankers in Nigeria, and these findings suggest that banks use egoism to set and ethicise unreasonable loan and deposit targets for their workers. Our findings further indicate that the pressure and consequences of not meeting these targets have forced many bankers to engage in various forms of unethical behaviour, such as bribery and ‘corporate prostitution’. We explain how bankers’ work-life balance and health are negatively affected in the contemporary banking workplace, in which organisational wellbeing is valued above employees’ wellbeing. This article makes a unique and original contribution to the study of corporate egoism and its associated implications in the global South.
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Wave goodbye to the future: Haunting, music, and cultural stasis in the regional novels of Catherine O’Flynn and Joel LaneUsing Mark Fisher’s reconfigurations of Derrida’s Hauntology, this article explores the interactions between these narrative features in the works of Catherine O’Flynn and Joel Lane. Fisher reworks hauntology in relation to the distinct features of ‘futuristic’ music and ‘retro’ perceptions of what lay ahead. He links this psychic and cultural trap with ideas of the weird and the eerie. Both O’Flynn and Lane have produced eerie texts set in the off-kilter and marginal West Midlands regions, placing their characters in literal and symbolic haunted sites. Their respective spectres – people, places and cultures – are caught in a perpetual liminality and psychic looping: a hauntological position. These play out through the motifs of melancholic landscapes, personalities and cultural currents, most notably in music. This article interrogates these strange conjugations and interfaces that play out in the fiction of O’Flynn and Lane.
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Journal quality factors from ChatGPT: more meaningful than impact factors?Purpose: Journal Impact Factors and other citation-based indicators are widely used and abused to help select journals to publish in or to estimate the value of a published article. Nevertheless, citation rates primarily reflect scholarly impact rather than other quality dimensions, including societal impact, originality, and rigour. In response to this deficit, Journal Quality Factors (JQFs) are defined and evaluated. These are average quality score estimates given to a journal’s articles by ChatGPT. Design/methodology/approach: JQFs were compared with Polish, Norwegian and Finnish journal ranks and with journal citation rates for 1,300 journals with 130,000 articlesfrom 2021 in large monodisciplinary journalsin the 25 out of 27 Scopus broad fields of research for which it was possible. Outliers were also examined. Findings: JQFs correlated positively and mostly strongly (median correlation: 0.641) with journal ranks in 24 out of the 25 broad fields examined, indicating a nearly science-wide ability for ChatGPT to estimate journal quality. Journal citation rates had similarly high correlations with national journal ranks, however, so JQFs are not a universally better indicator. An examination of journals with JQFs not matching their journal ranks suggested that abstract styles may affect the result, such as whether the societal contexts of research are mentioned. Research limitations: Different journal rankings may have given different findings because there is no agreed meaning for journal quality. Practical implications: The results suggest that JQFs are plausible as journal quality indicators in all fields and may be useful for the (few) research and evaluation contexts where journal quality is an acceptable proxy for article quality, and especially for fields like mathematics for which citations are not strong indicators of quality. Originality/value: This is the first attempt to estimate academic journal value with a Large Language Model.
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Managing and resourcing Nigerian banks’ diasporic operations in the UK: An empirical studyThis study explores the objectives and operations of the diasporic operations of Nigerian banks in the UK. Its aim is to understand why such banks choose to establish a presence in the UK, how they structure themselves, and how they meet the UK’s regulatory standards. By employing a mixed-method approach – a combination of survey data and semi-structured interviews – this research examines the reasons underlying Nigerian banks’ engagement in diaspora banking, their human resources strategies, and the manifestation of their organisational culture within the UK context. The findings illustrate that Nigerian banks utilise either the subsidiary model or the branch model to cater to the financial needs of Nigerian diaspora communities, facilitate international transactions, and support international investment in Nigeria and Africa more broadly. The usually staffing strategy applied involves a mixture of UK-based employees and Nigerian staff seconded from the banks; headquarters in Nigeria, which ensures that the bank are able to adhere to both UK financial regulations and Nigerian compliance standards. The study’s originality lies in its novel contribution to the operational activities of diaspora banking in the UK.
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Exploring visual attention and perception in hospitality and tourism: a comprehensive review of eye-tracking researchAbstract Purpose: The study aims to review existing research on eye-tracking in hospitality and tourism, emphasizing its rapid development as an innovative and objective technique for exploring visual perception and attention. By examining tourists' visual paths, interests, and responses to visual stimuli, this review seeks to identify visual patterns that can enhance tourism marketing and landscape design. Design/methodology/approach: This study combines bibliometric methods with a systematic review to examine eye-tracking research in hospitality and tourism. Taking a wider perspective, it aims to identify research clusters and current topics in both theory and technology, offering a thorough understanding of the current state of eye-tracking research within hospitality and tourism Findings: The comprehensive review of eye-tracking research in tourism identifies three critical areas of focus: tourism advertisements, the perception of tourism landscapes, and visual attention. Through keyword occurrence and co-citation analysis, these topics emerge as pivotal within the current body of research. The review offers in-depth insights into these themes, emphasizing their significance in advancing the field of eye-tracking studies within the context of tourism. Practical Implications: By understanding tourists' visual attention and perception patterns, marketing strategies and visual displays can be optimized to enhance tourist engagement and satisfaction. Additionally, insights from eye-tracking studies can aid in designing more effective tourism advertisements and improving the overall visual appeal of tourism landscapes, thereby potentially increasing tourist visits and economic benefits for destinations. Originality/value: This review offers valuable insights and guidance for future tourism eyetracking studies, addressing both theoretical frameworks and practical applications. It enhances understanding of current research trends and provides a foundation for innovative approaches in tourism marketing and landscape design.
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University spinoffs and technology commercialisationAcademic entrepreneurship has different components including entrepreneurial university, university spinoffs (USO) and technology commercialisation, academic entrepreneurs, and knowledge transfer. This chapter discusses University Spinoff and its impact on technology commercialisation. It focuses on work-area research commercialisation in order to establish a link between university spinoffs and technology commercialisation. The impact of university spinoff as a core capability in the university work area is explored in this chapter. The university's function has evolved to include more than just teaching, community service and research, it now focuses on potential revenue generation through research commercialisation. University spinoff, leveraging competency, opportunity refinement, funding venture, venture credibility junction, and venture capitalist are the variables discussed in this chapter. Understanding these concepts will enable universities to match their operational goals with environmental sustainability and change the focus of all the stakeholders in the university system from the traditional system of teaching to academic entrepreneurship practices.
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Academic entrepreneurship: promoting economic and societal developmentsThis chapter explores how academic entrepreneurship contributes to economic and societal development. Using an integrative review approach, the chapter provides a synthesis of the literature on academic entrepreneurship by examining how higher education institutions’ entrepreneurial activities, through the commercialisation of their core roles (teaching and research), lead to socioeconomic development. The chapter presents its results in the context of three overarching themes concerning the main theories related to academic entrepreneurship as a wellspring for economic development and as a propellant of societal development. Ultimately, the findings reveal that entrepreneurial universities can significantly improve socioeconomic development by creating technology transfer offices, developing knowledge sharing, creating job opportunities, promoting effective ecosystems, and building social capital and social networking opportunities. Implications and agendas for future research are also provided.
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Pandemic prejudices in times of crisis: reframing 'imagined cosmopolitan communities' through multidirectional memoryBenedict Anderson’s exegesis on nationalism claims that individuals are united into ‘imagined communities’ by nationality through a series of processes, including, for example, those relating to religion, capitalism and language. Extending Anderson’s thesis, Ulrich Beck has subsequently suggested that global crises provoke broader ‘cosmopolitan imagined communities’ that extend beyond nations. Referring to the HIV/AIDS and Covid-19 outbreaks, this article argues that while such crises superficially appear to be globally unifying, as suggested by Beck, they actually precipitate societal divisions and splinter communities through both direct and indirect discriminatory processes. In so doing, it suggests that the HIV/AIDS and Covid-19 pandemics display clear analogies in terms of misinformation, discrimination, racism and stigma, articulated through reference to Michael Rothberg’s model of multidirectional memory whereby traumatic events have the capacity to recall previous historical traumas. Through analysis of both news media and scholarly resources, as well as engaging with the aforementioned studies, it therefore challenges Beck’s contention in relation to the two pandemics.
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Exploring the role of religion in consumer decision-making processes: Perspectives on developing nationsThe literature is replete with postulations around consumer decision making process. Essentially, the core argument in this issue is that Irrespective of the market offering involved, the consumer pass through a number of stages which begins with need recognition. Conventionally, this is followed by search for information, evaluation of alternatives, decision, and post-purchase evaluation. A number of scholarship efforts have provided variants of this vis-à-vis various decision models that do not necessarily conform to the rational model depicted in the highlighted process. This chapter presents a critical overview of this discourse. Moreover, in view of its all-encompassing form, the chapter offers an eclectic submission on each of the stages in this conventional process in relation to how religion reflect in them to influence consumption in developing nations. A good number of cases and illustrations are presented to accentuate this as relevant to developing nations as the contextual platform for the chapter.
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Inclusion of people with disabilities in marketing: a paradigm shiftWhether mobility, auditory, sensory, visual, cognitive, or other types, living with a disability is a challenging experience. The individual dimension of this phenomenon is complemented by the social experience. In fact, as compared to individual experiences, social and political structures are considered as the leading cause of disability perception in society. Meanwhile, people with disability constitute a meaningful consumer segment with considerable purchasing power. However, extant literature indicates that the marketplace strategies are not friendly with people with disability in many areas. Hence, this chapter presents a conceptual and robust synthesis of these challenges and strategic directions for addressing the imbalance in relation to the equity and inclusion of people with disability in the marketing system. By and large, the chapter presents a paradigm shift on this phenomenon.
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The clout of digitalisation and work-life balanceThe traditional workplace is rapidly changing because of the impact of digital technology, which is transforming how work is designed, performed, and managed. Over the years, overwhelming evidence has revealed that digitalisation has profoundly impacted different aspects of our lives, including how we balance our work and personal lives. Overall, the effect of digitalisation on work-life balance is complex and depends on several factors that shape its usage and outcomes for managing the work and personal domains. However, it is evident that digitalisation may positively and negatively affect work-life balance. Therefore, this chapter aims to investigate the impact of digitalisation on employees’ work-life balance. It discusses how digitalisation has led to enhanced connectivity, availability, efficiency, productivity, and work flexibility (or inflexibility) and control. It has also resulted in the blurring of boundaries between employees’ work and personal lives. The chapter then provides some recommendations for managing the impact of digitalisation on employees’ work-life balance.
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HRD practitioner roles in organizations: challenges, congruence, and changesThe role of HRD practitioners have been a focus of research for many years. Much of this research has concentrated on information from practitioners themselves and/or on specific aspects of the current role of HRD functions in organizations. This chapter emphasises the differing perceptions of both HRD practitioners and their colleague/line managers on the HRD role in organizations. Insights are shared from the most recent research project on HRD roles currently being undertaken by the authors, drawn from a range of industries and three different countries: the USA, the UK and the Netherlands (NL). The findings of this project are set in the context of similar empirical research, as well as in the context of current conceptualisations of organization role and of HRD. The chapter concludes with observations on the relative roles of the main stakeholders in HRD practice in organizations and how these could be developed in the future.
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Investigating disparities in SMEs digitalisationThis research investigates disparities in digitalisation among UK Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), with a specific focus on variations by gender, ethnicity, region, and industry. Adopting a mixed-method approach, data was collected from both primary and secondary sources. Primary data was obtained from a panel discussion with academics, SME owners, and industry experts, providing a practical perspective that bridges the gap between theory and practice in digital transformation, particularly in the context of SMEs. Secondary data was sourced from the UK Longitudinal Small Business Survey (LSBS) spanning from 2018 to 2022, which examines digital technology adoption trends across five key digitalisation indicators: Accountancy Software, HR Management Software, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Software, AI/Robotics/Automation, and Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality (VR/AR) technologies.
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How is ChatGPT acknowledged in academic publications?This study analysed the acknowledgment of ChatGPT in 1,759 academic publications indexed in Scopus and Web of Science up to August 2024. Around 80% of acknowledgments were related to text editing and proofreading, while only 5.3% mentioned ChatGPT for non-editorial research support, such as data analysis or programming. A small portion (3.5%) of researchers acknowledged ChatGPT for drafting sections of manuscripts. About two-thirds of corresponding authors who acknowledged ChatGPT were from non-English-speaking countries, and 75% of the publications with ChatGPT acknowledgments were published within January to August 2024. These findings suggest that ChatGPT was primarily acknowledged for language enhancement rather than more complex research applications, although some researchers may not have found it necessary to mention its use in their publications, highlighting the need for transparency from journals and publishers.
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Bataille, Foucault and the lost futures of transgressionThis paper examines the theme of transgression as it is developed in Bataille’s text L’érotisme of 1957. It is critical of Foucault’s 1963 essay on Bataille Préface á la transgression and it then considers the linked yet distinct processes of transgression, profanation and degradation in contemporary culture. Far from inaugurating a new era of transgression, the last sixty years have seen the dissolution of ‘sexuality’ from supposed limit experience to one of limitless confinement within commodified identity positions. What might a future of transgression, in Bataille’s rather that Foucault’s sense, have looked like and why did it not take place?
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Revisiting the role of bilateral investment treaties in foreign direct investmentThis article revisits the role of Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). It investigates, in particular, the institutional quality of the host countries, the number of cases brought for resolution, plus a more nuanced formulation of numbers of BITs, focusing on developing host countries. The analysis looks at more recent developments in BITs and incorporates economic freedom as a proxy of institutional quality of the host countries and considers the number of Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) in the BITs. We assume a non-linear relationship between BIT and FDI. Models are run using feasible generalized least squares (FGLS). Our new findings reveal that there is an optimum level of BITs in attracting FDI (higher and lower numbers do worse), constituting a re-appraisal of past analyses. Previous ISDS cases show a significant negative relationship with FDI. Economic Freedom has a strong positive and significant relationship with FDI/GDP, as previously found.
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How do museums and galleries help academics create societal impact? An analysis of the UK REF2021 impact case studiesAlthough the cultural and heritage roles of museums and art galleries are well recognised, they can also be vehicles to help scholars generate societal impact. This study systematically investigates this role for the first time, using evidence from UK Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 impact case studies (ICSs). We identified mentions of over 1,700 UK museums in 6,361 ICSs across all academic fields. While a third of ICSs in Main Panel D (mainly arts and humanities) mentioned at least one museum or art gallery, they were rarely mentioned in the other three panels (2.3% to 4.7%). The percentage was highest in the Art and Design (57%), Classics (56%), Archaeology (44%) and History (42%) Units of Assessment (UoAs). A content analysis of Art and Design case studies showed that collaborations or consultations with museums (25%), public engagement activities (23%), the display of cultural artefacts (18%) and preservation of cultural heritage (17%) were the main roles played by museums and art galleries. Evidence of societal impact in these cases came from testimonials (40%) and audience statistics or feedback (20%) in arts case studies. Overall, the study demonstrates the importance of museums and art galleries for helping many arts and humanities scholars to generate societal impacts.
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Finally free of the interpreter's gaze? Uncovering the hidden labor of gaze work for deaf consumers of interpreter servicesThe COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated a shift towards remote video-mediated sign language interpreting. This has uncovered the hidden labor of gaze work that deaf consumers of interpreting services have been obliged to engage in. We specifically focus on one group of deaf consumers of interpreter services: deaf academics. We consider the role of interpreter education in the context of the backchanneling expectation, the invisibility of gaze work prior to the proliferation of remote video-mediated interpreting, during the COVID era, and then post-COVID. Throughout this chronology, we consider the expectations of interpreters and deaf academics for interaction and feedback between interpreter and academic. While gaze work historically forms part of the wider calculated consumer labor, this is something within the conference setting that deaf consumers are now more resistant to engage in. This is partly because of sensory overload and the need to manage multimodal resources. However, this is also about exercising choices. We highlight the need for sign language interpreters to be educated in more nuanced ways with respect to gaze behaviors. It is clear that deaf consumers want interpreters to provide solutions to ensure that interpreter-mediated access provides access without the problematic addition of consumer labor.
