Bridging Scholarship in Management: Epistemological Reflections

If the relevance gap in management research is to be narrowed, management scholars must identify and adopt processes of inquiry that simultaneously achieve high rigour and high relevance. Research approaches that strive for relevance emphasize the particular at the expense of the general and approaches that strive for rigour emphasize the general over the particular. Inquiry that attains both rigour and relevance can be found in approaches to knowledge that involve a reasoned relationship between the particular and the general. Prominent among these are the works of Ikujiro Nonaka and John Dewey. Their epistemological foundations indicate the potential for a philosophy of science and a process of inquiry that crosses epistemological lines by synthesizing the particular and the general and by utilizing experience and theory, the implicit and the explicit, and induction and deduction. These epistemologies point to characteristics of a bridging scholarship that is problem-initiated and rests on expanded standards of validity. The present epistemological reflections are in search of new communities of knowing toward the production of relevant and rigorous management knowledge.     

Documentarians,fair use,and free expression: changes in copyright attitudes and actions with access to best practices

This study, based on a survey of 489 documentary filmmakers, is a case study in copyright policy in and through practice. It assesses the changes in documentary production practice around clearance of copyrighted material since the creation of the Documentary Filmmakers' Statement of Best Practices in fair use in 2005. Fair use, an exotic and occasional feature of documentary film in 2004, has become well known and commonly employed. Creative options for filmmakers concerning the use of third-party material have dramatically improved with changes in norms after the issuing of the Statement. Attitudes about fair use are strongly associated with free expression and creative opportunity, and vary with experience. Where filmmakers have changed work because of copyright concerns, they themselves rather than any gatekeeper have made the decision to do so. Where change is associated with fair use, risk is a common concern. Newer filmmakers are more likely to support the use of copyrighted material to make new work, but less likely to know about fair use, and also more likely to have experienced takedowns online. Both education about and experience with fair use appear to have an effect on practice. Filmmakers continue to lack reliable information on the actual risk landscape, and about fair use on digital platforms.     

Managers as knowledge generators: The nature of practitioner‐scholar research in the nonprofit sector

As nonprofit management education develops, it has the opportunity to consider new premises concerning managers' roles. In the design and practice of traditional management education, managers are assumed to be the ultimate users of knowledge. Less attention is given to educating managers to be knowledge generators who combine intimate understanding of issues, problems, and settings with established theory and methods. Based on a discussion of three research projects undertaken in nonprofit settings by participants in a doctoral program for advanced practitioners at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University, we describe seven dimensions of practitioner‐scholar inquiry. The pattern of practitioner‐scholar research that emerges from these research projects is contrasted with two other modes of knowledge production. Implications for practitioner‐scholar inquiry and for the education of practitioner‐scholars in the nonprofit sector are discussed.     

Motivational signage increases stair usage on a Hispanic serving institution

Abstract

Objective: Stair climbing is considered a good physical activity. Motivational signage has been successful in promoting stair usage in various settings. This study was to investigate the effects of motivational signage on stair usage in a Hispanic serving institution. Participants: A total of 31,067 pedestrians were observed from February to March 2013. Methods: Stair usage was monitored for 9?h per day each week at phase 1 (baseline), 2 (intervention), and 3 (post-intervention). Results: Overall, participants’ stair usage was higher during phase 2 (49.0%) and phase 3 (48.0%), compared with phase 1 (39.7%). The participants during phase 2 and 3 were more likely to use the stairs compared to participants during phase 1, regardless of floor level (3-story or 4-story building), status (student or staff/faculty), and time of day (7:30–10:29, 10:30–13:29, or 13:30–16:30) (p?<?.001). Conclusion: Motivational signage can effectively encourage more stair usage, and hence promote healthy behavior in a predominantly Hispanic-serving institution.     

Challenges to the Social Foundations of Capitalism in an Age of Global Economics

Capitalism transforms its own social foundationseven as it holds forth the prospect of continuing humanadvancement. This paper examines changes innation-state, civil society, and democracy in response to the forces of global capitalism. Theseinstitutions, all associated with Western liberalism andthe advent of industrialization, represent forms ofsocial integration important to the success ofcapitalism. However, they appear to be deeply affected byeconomic globalization, and their capacities to ensuresocial stability are in que stion. This analysis leadsto policy directions for reducing the socially-corrosive effects of global capitalism, strengthening thecapacities of foundation social institutions, andexploring a value synthesis between liberalism and moralcommunity.     

Novel symptom questionnaire for the differential diagnosis of detrusor underactivity and bladder outlet obstruction in men

Objective: To develop a questionnaire for the differential diagnosis of detrusor underactivity (DUA) and bladder outlet obstruction (BOO) without performing invasive pressure flow studies.

Study design and methods: Symptoms of men with DUA were analyzed and compared with those of men with BOO using eight questions from the developing questionnaire. Patients with DUA have a bladder contractility index (PdetQmax+5xQmax) less than 100, whereas those with BOO have a BOO index (PdetQmax?2xQmax) greater than 40 in urodynamic studies (UDS). Men with detrusor overactivity in UDS and neurogenic issues were excluded from the analysis. One urologist reviewed patients’ medical records, and responded to eight questions without using information from UDS. Scores in the developing questionnaire were then compared to make a differential diagnosis between DUA and BOO.

Results: Overall, 318 men who underwent UDS were included. Symptoms were compared in patients diagnosed with DUA without BOO (n?=?165) and BOO without DUA (n?=?153). Questions 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, and 7 were significantly different between groups. The sensitivity and specificity of the questionnaire were 95.8% and 95.4%, respectively, for predicting DUA in patients with scores greater than 45 points (cutoff value).

Conclusions: Men with DUA and BOO may be distinguished using a developing questionnaire without invasive evaluation. Men with scores greater than 45 points would be expected to have DUA but not BOO.     

Bird and mammal use of vernal pools along an urban development gradient

Vernal pools in the northeastern US are of conservation concern primarily because of their role as habitat for specialized pool-breeding amphibians, but their use by birds and mammals may also be of interest, especially from the perspective of the impact of urbanization. We describe camera-trapped wildlife (CTW) at 38 vernal pools along an urban development gradient in greater Bangor, Maine, USA. We detected 20 mammal and 39 bird taxa (29 contacted pool water; 39 detected at >1 site). Land cover type within 1000 m (%), within-pool vegetation (%), and amphibian egg mass numbers explained a substantial portion of the variance (40.8%) in CTW assemblage composition. Submerged vegetation within pools and cover by water and impervious surfaces within 1000 m of pools were key site characteristics defining assemblages. We scored the urban-affiliation of taxa and modeled the relationship between weighted assemblage scores for each site and impervious cover. Impervious cover within 1000 m of pools was positively (p?<?0.01) related to site urban-affiliation scores. Use probability for red fox increased and snowshoe hare decreased with impervious cover at 1000 m. These results indicate that within-pool vegetation and land cover types at 1000 m influenced bird and mammal assemblages that used study pools and greater impervious cover at 100 and 1000 m was correlated with a shift in assemblages from being dominated by urban-avoider to urban-adapted species. We encourage land use planners and managers to consider the influence of land use practices within 1000 m of vernal pools on birds and mammals, especially near amphibian breeding pools.     

Stigma as a barrier to engaging in mental health services among adolescents who survive natural disasters

Many barriers impact the utilization of mental health services among adolescents who survive natural disasters. Although stigma has been identified as one of these barriers, minimal work examines the etiological factors that impact stigma and how these factors operate in perpetuating stigma among adolescents after a disaster. Understanding the role that stigma plays is a critical step to raising awareness of the cognitive and behavioral processes that preserve adolescents’ well-being, timely attainment of developmental milestones, and the potential for engagement in meaningful opportunities. We modify an existing adolescent self-stigma model to better understand how youth might respond psychologically to natural disasters both immediately after the event as well as during the long-term recovery phase. Future empirical research should assess the validity of these barriers within the suggested temporal framework. If this proposed conceptual piece is validated, interventions could be designed that directly address the role of stigma.     

The role of organizational procedures in the resolution of social conflict

Employee-employer conflict can arise from the expression of social issues within an employment organization. Recently, public support for non-discrimination in employment has led to the existence of external forums--regulatory agencies and the courts--that allow appeals for complaints of discrimination by protected groups. This paper examines the role of organizational procedures for conflict resolution where individuals have the option of appealing to an external forum. Through the analysis of internal grievance procedures and external charges in three urban hospitals, the paper explores the origins and expressions of employee-employer conflict in the areas of discrimination, the impact of an internal system on the rate of external charges, and the general relationship between internal and external forums of conflict resolution.