Ride-on lawnmowers warnings: slope measurements and safety-by-separation

Various single-rider open vehicles, such as lawnmowers, are susceptible to overturning on slopes that are too steep for them. Warnings have included separation from the vehicles and avoiding slopes that are too steep. A recommended maximum slope is commonly 15 degrees. However, many individuals cannot evaluate slopes just by sight. Some mower manufacturers have warned about too steep slopes and have provided slope gauges for users to determine the slopes in natural settings. This article evaluated the usefulness of such gauges for users who might be expected to need to evaluate slopes and the efficacy of a separation procedure for avoiding injuries. It was concluded that neither of these were likely to be successful and suggestions are made for alternative approaches.     

Exploring the strategic potential of internal communication in international non-governmental organisations

The role and importance of international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) has increased with globalization and the growth of global institutions. Despite this growth, academic research into INGO management remains limited and, due to their unique characteristics, management theories developed for for-profit organisations cannot be applied as is to INGOs. Internal communication is a critical area of management that has been proven to have a major impact on an organisation's effectiveness, particularly when managed strategically. Therefore this article explores the strategic management of internal communication within the INGO context. This study synthesised the current literature on this topic and included five case studies to understand the current state of internal communication within INGOs. It was determined that INGOs do not manage internal communication strategically. However, there is evidence that the implementation of strategic internal communication could help INGOs address several of their challenges and have an impact on their overall effectiveness. This study is exploratory and further research to identify the process for strategic internal communication in INGOs is needed.     

Influence analysis in skew-Birnbaum–Saunders regression models and applications

In this paper, we propose a method to assess influence in skew-Birnbaum–Saunders regression models, which are an extension based on the skew-normal distribution of the usual Birnbaum–Saunders (BS) regression model. An interesting characteristic that the new regression model has is the capacity of predicting extreme percentiles, which is not possible with the BS model. In addition, since the observed likelihood function associated with the new regression model is more complex than that from the usual model, we facilitate the parameter estimation using a type-EM algorithm. Moreover, we employ influence diagnostic tools that considers this algorithm. Finally, a numerical illustration includes a brief simulation study and an analysis of real data in order to show the proposed methodology.     

Developing a Model of Community Wellbeing and Resilience in Response to Change

This study examines the relationship between base of the pyramid (BoP) entrepreneurship success and wellbeing. The major contention is that the success of the BoP entrepreneurs is influenced by information and training support provided by large private organizations. A total of 134 BoP entrepreneurs, who run community information centres in remote areas of Bangladesh with the support of a leading private telecommunications company, participated in this research. The result revealed that support from a large private organization is important to ensure business success, and that this subsequently enhances the wellbeing of BoP entrepreneurs. Not only has this study empirically confirmed that assistance provided by large private organizations to BoP entrepreneurs influences business success, assistance also enhances the wellbeing of this vulnerable group and thus facilitate to reduce poverty within the local community. This study therefore can be a guideline for large private organizations that are willing to carry out pragmatic corporate social initiatives.     

INEQUALITY OF SUBJECTIVE WELL‐BEING AS A COMPREHENSIVE MEASURE OF INEQUALITY

The link between happiness and overall inequality is best studied using an index that incorporates different aspects of inequality, and is measured consistently in different countries. One such index is the degree to which happiness itself varies among individuals. Its correlation with both happiness levels and social trust is substantially stronger than the corresponding correlation for income inequality. This remains so after allowing for bounded scale reporting, including a purely ordinal measure of dispersion. Moreover, the correlation is stronger for individuals who profess to care most about inequality. The link between happiness and inequality may thus be stronger than previously appreciated. (JEL I31, D6, D63, D31)     

Transitioning from ‘outside observer’ to ‘inside player’ in social work: practitioner and student perspectives on developing expertise in decision-making

ABSTRACT

This paper reports on a six-year qualitative study of social workers’ perspectives on factors influencing decision-making in children and families social work in England. Data collected between 2010 and 2016 reflect frontline practice during a period of substantial change and reform in UK social work. This paper builds on an earlier analysis with data from all three stages of the study capturing the lived experiences of practitioners ranging from student social workers to qualified advanced practitioners in management roles. Data from 9 focus groups comprising 51 participants were analysed using grounded theory. Data analysis generated four representative categories: developing agency in the social work role; troubling emotions; transitions in the development of expertise and the impact of organisational cultures in children and families social work services. An emerging theoretical framework is presented. This identifies the significance of transitions and threshold concepts in the development of the social work professional from the role of students as ‘outside players looking in’ through to the expertise of qualified practitioners as ‘inside players’ within organisations. Recognising periods of liminality, transitional learning and uncertainties in developing decision-making expertise may be of significant benefit to social work education and the profession.     

AGING OUT OF WOMEN INFANTS AND CHILDREN: AN INVESTIGATION OF THE COMPENSATION EFFECT OF PRIVATE NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS

This paper is the first to address the causal relationship between an abrupt change in the availability of public nutrition assistance and low-income households' private nutrition assistance utilization. In particular, we examined the way in which loss of Women Infants and Children (WIC) benefits impacted a household's utilization of private food assistance. Using a regression discontinuity analysis framework, we found that households significantly increased utilization of private nutrition assistance following an abrupt loss in public nutrition assistance. Estimates indicated that some households might have been able to compensate from about half to more than 90% of their loss in public WIC nutrition assistance. (JEL I38, C36, D12)     

Work Motivation: The Incorporation of Self-Concept-Based Processes

This paper proposes a metatheory of workmotivation incorporating theories of self-concept thathave been proposed in the sociological and psychologicalliteratures. Traditional theories of work motivation are reviewed, and the self-concept-basedsources of motivation are presented. How theself-concept influences behavior in organizations isexplained and used to develop a metatheory ofmotivational sources. Both research and managerial implications ofthe model are presented.     

Is It Safer to Fly or Drive?

In attempts to soothe the nascent fear of the scheduled airline traveler, passengers waiting takeoff are sometimes reminded of the cliche that they may have already completed the most dangerous part of their trip — the drive to the airport. The objective of this paper is to communicate under what conditions air travel is indeed safer than highway travel and vice versa. The conventional wisdom among risk communicators that air travel is so much safer than car travel arises from the most widely quoted death rates per billion miles for each — 0.6 for air compared to 24 for road. There are three reasons why such an unqualified comparison of aggregated fatality rates is inappropriate. First, the airline rate is passenger fatalities per passenger mile, whereas the road rate is all fatalities (any occupants, pedestrians, etc.) per vehicle mile. Second, road travel that competes with air travel is on the rural interstate system, not on average roads. Third, driver and vehicle characteristics, and driver behavior, lead to car-driver risks that vary over a wide range. Expressions derived to compare risk for drivers with given characteristics to those on airline trips of given distance showed that 40-year-old, belted, alcohol-free drivers of cars 700 pounds heavier than average are slightly less likely to be killed in 600 miles of rural interstate driving than in airline trips of the same length. Compared to this driver, 18-year-old, unbelted, intoxicated, male drivers of cars 700 pounds lighter than average have a risk over 1000 times greater. Furthermore, it is shown that the cliche above is untrue for a group of drivers having the age distribution of airline passengers.