BU Research Blog

9 September 2016

Contesting corporate governance – research at BU

Prime Minister Theresa May has recently mooted a Germanic-turn for corporate governance in the UK, an echo of a heated debate over the shape of boards of directors in listed companies raging over the past 25 years. By coincidence, BU’s Donald Nordberg, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Management, has been examining the controversies over board design since the Cadbury Code was written in 1992, as investors, corporate chairmen and others wrestled with whether to recommend continuing with unitary boards or follow the German model of dual boards with worker representation. His paper, “Contestation over board design and the development of UK corporate governance,” has just won the prize as Best Paper in Management and Business History at the British Academy of Management conference in Newcastle. Could history be about to repeat itself? The conference paper is at http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/23744/.

31 August 2016

Friday 16th September: Professor Christoph Teller presents ‘Why consumers shop where they do’

jmemery

Professor Christoph Teller, Chair in Retailing and Marketing at the University of Surrey, will discuss why shoppers shop where they do through a presentation of a meta-analyses study. The study he presents aims to identify the major antecedents of offline and online retail patronage. In his talk he will outline the retail patronage work of Pan and Zinkhan (2006) and discuss how he extends their view and develops conceptual models of offline and online retail patronage based on Sheth’s (1999) integrated theory of patronage behaviour and Finn and Louviere’s (1996) specification in a retail patronage context. The models he identifies proposes direct effects between antecedents (stimuli), i.e., mainly manageable attributes of retailers, and the retail patronage (response or shopping predisposition). The study is based upon a meta-analysis of more than 300 empirical studies and makes a theoretical as well as practical contribution to the topic area as it provides an overview on, and detailed insights into, patronage research in an offline as well as online context.

This free event, hosted by the Influences on Consumer Behaviour Research Cluster, will take place on Friday 16th September 2016, 2-3.30pm in the Inspire Lecture Theatre. Please book your place through Eventbrite: ‘Why consumers shop where they do’

15 August 2016

Business practitioners’ perspectives on the value of mobile technology: New Paper published by Dr Elvira Bolat

Publishing, Research themes ebolat

Dr. Elvira Bolat in the Faculty of Management published her latest paper today in the Journal of Customer Behaviour. This paper focuses on one of the issues Dr. Bolat has explored in her PhD thesis – values deriving from mobile technology use. No existing research maps and discusses holistically the values deriving from mobile technology use, capturing both strategic and operational opportunities, which are most likely to emerge in the business-to-business (B2B) context. This empirical paper addresses this gap. An adapted grounded theory approach is applied to collect and analyse in-depth interviews with 28 B2B practitioners from advertising and marketing firms. Whether mobile technology is a simple means to advanced communication with no physical boundaries of time and location, or a business tool to boost creative thinking, this study concludes that mobile technology represents a novel and unique category of technology because of its core distinctive feature, ‘being mobile’. B2B practitioners argue that the true nature of mobile technology lies in seeing it as a source of value that derives from using mobile technology. B2B practitioners view mobile technology not only as a purely technical tool (functional value) enabling effective communication (social value) but as a strategic tool driving balanced and flexible ways in managing business (emotional value) and enabling creative thinking (creative value). Additionally, mobile technology has enabled businesses move to online payments which helps them reach more customers. Merchant account services encompass a range of solutions designed to support businesses in processing electronic payments.

Full reference to the article: Bolat, E., 2016. Business practitioners’ perspectives on the value of mobile technology. Journal of Customer Behaviour, 15 (1), 31-48.

Read full paper at http://dx.doi.org/10.1362/147539216X14594362873451

15 August 2016

New Paper by Dr Elvira Bolat and BA (Hons) Business Studies Graduate Jack Strong

Publishing, Research themes, student research ebolat

Dr. Elvira Bolat and her research supervisee, Jack Strong (BA Business Studies 2015 graduate), in the Faculty of Management published her latest paper today in the Journal of Customer Behaviour. The paper is more focused version of Jack’s final year research project which focused on Panasonic where Jack had done his placement during the third year of the studies. This paper explores customers’ perspectives on branding and the role of digital technologies in Business-to-Business context. Branding is a well-researched notion in the business-to-customer (B2C) environment but a concept which is unexplored in the business-to-business (B2B) context. Conceptually, similar to B2C organisations, digital communication via digital tools and devices allows B2B organisations to experience the benefits of exposing their brands to a wider audience. In reality, questions of whether branding is purposeful in the B2B context and what role digital technologies play in B2B branding remain open. This study explores branding in the B2B context, using Panasonic as a case study, to consider the value of B2B branding from the B2B customer (buyer) perspective. Results indicate that B2B branding is of importance in the B2B context, in particular for an organisation such as Panasonic where reputation is a driving force in attracting new B2B customers and nurturing long-term relationships with existing B2B customers. Moreover, this study concludes that whilst use of digital technologies enables the portrayal of brand perceptions of Panasonic, digital technologies have yet to be fully embraced for the purpose of branding in the B2B context.

Full reference to the article: Strong, J. and Bolat, E., 2016. A qualitative inquiry into customers’ perspectives on branding and the role of digital technologies in B2B: A case study of Panasonic. Journal of Customer Behaviour, 15 (1), 97-116.

Read full paper at http://dx.doi.org/10.1362/147539216X14594362873613

3 May 2016

Keynote Speaker at BAM Marketing and Retail SIG Event on Sustainability and Ethical Consumption

Research themes jmemery

Professor Juliet Memery was a keynote speaker last week at a British Academy of Management Event held at the Surrey Business School, University of Surrey. The event on Sustainability and Ethical Consumption was hosted by the BAM Marketing and Retail Special Interest Group and brought together academics and practitioners to discuss research in the area. The event aimed to make an assessment of sustainability and ethical consumption research by looking back at its original purpose, how it has developed, where it is now, and what it could or should develop into, so providing food for thought for future research in the area. The day was well attended with over 30 presentations being made and a lot of insightful discussions were held.

The event is tied to a special issue of ‘Management Decision’, a peer reviewed journal published by Emerald, on Sustainability and Ethical Consumption which will be edited by the co-organisers and keynote speakers. Details of the special issue will be advertised in the near future, and submissions are invited from researchers in the area.

2 April 2016

Latest BU paper sexual health & tourism

international, open access, Publishing Edwin van Teijlingen

This new issue of the Nepal Journal of Epidemiology contains a systematic review by FHSS Visiting Faculty Prof. Padam Simkhada (based at Liverpool John Moores University). The review was produced in collaboration with Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen in BU’s Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH). Their paper ‘Factors influencing sexual behaviour between tourists and tourism employees: A systematic review’ is co-written with a researcher from Green Tara Nepal and an independent Public Health Consultant based in the UK. [1] This systematic review reports on factors influencing sexual behaviour between workers in the tourism industry and tourists, including their risk perceptions when engaging in sexual activities and the knowledge of STIs (sexually transmitted infections).

This is the third paper from this group on sexual health and tourism. The previous two papers were written with BU’s Dr. Pramod Regmi. These two publications reported on sexual behaviour of male trekking guides in Nepal such as sexual interactions with tourists and locals. The qualitative paper based on interviews with trekking guides has been published in Culture, Health & Sexuality [2] and the quantitative survey paper appeared in Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences [3].

This week’s publication the Nepal Journal of Epidemiology is Open Access, hence freely available, as is the third paper listed below.

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

References:

Simkhada, P.P., Sharma, A., van Teijlingen, E.R., Beanland, R,L. (2016) Factors influencing sexual behaviour between tourists and tourism employees: A systematic review. Nepal Journal of Epidemiology 6(1): 530-538.
Simkhada, P., Bhatta, P., van Teijlingen E., Regmi, P. (2010) Sexual health knowledge, sexual relationships and condom use among male trekking guides in Nepal. Culture, Health & Sexuality 12(1): 45-58.
Simkhada, P., van Teijlingen, E., Regmi, P., Bhatta, P., Ingham, R., Stone, N. (2015) Sexual health knowledge and risky sexual behaviour of Nepalese trekking guides. Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences 1(4): 35-42.

3 March 2016

CfP: Lifestyle and communities: sharing in the digital era

conferences, international lmarques

It’s with great pleasure that we invite you to submit an abstract to a special track on “Lifestyle and communities: sharing in the digital era” of the ATLAS annual conference. It will take place in Canterbury, Kent, UK, 14th-16th September 2016.

Please see below for details, or click here… and share!
Led by: Lenia Marques, Jules Hecquet and Dimitrios Buhalis (Bournemouth University, UK)
Supported by: ETourism Lab

The leisure and tourism landscape has been subject to rapid changes in a world where internet and technologies have contributed to shape experiences, relationships, practices and lifestyles. In the network society, the sense of community is also varied and we can interrogate different meanings, values and practices at the heart of changing social interactions. The boundaries between online and offline communities seem to be blurred and they present new societal challenges, which also affect the industry, namely with sharing economy / collaborative consumption practices and communities (such as AirBnB, Uber, Couchsurfing, Meetup, Mealsharing, etc.).

The causes and consequences of such platforms in terms of lifestyle and the sense of community is yet to be studied. Therefore, we welcome papers which may explore, but are not limited to, the following themes:

Online/offline communities and lifestyle
Sharing economy / collaborative consumption and lifestyle
Social interaction in the digital era
Leisure digital practices
Events as online/offline communities of practice
Digital technologies in the tourism experience
Lifestyle challenges in leisure and tourism
Impacts of sharing economy / collaborative consumption in conventional industry production systems
Research methods in the context of sharing economy / collaborative consumption

The convenors are looking at possibilities for publication.

For more details, click here or contact Dr Lenia Marques, lmarques@bournemouth.ac.uk .

http://www.atlas-euro.org/event_2016_canterbury/tabid/248/language/en-US/Default.aspx#track6

*Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

14 February 2016

New NHS article by BU Visiting Faculty Minesh Khashu

open access, Publishing Edwin van Teijlingen

Minesh Khashu (BU Visiting Faculty and clinician in Poole Hospital) and Jeremy Scrivens published their third instalment of a series of online papers on the NHS. This contribution is called ‘Can We Heal an Ailing Healthcare System? Part 3’. They deep dive into this idea of transformation through a strengths-based approach. They consider how we can build an NHS Social Movement by bringing the whole system together to inquire into and extend NHS’s Positive Core. The blog (online paper) can be accessed here!

For more information you can also follow the two authors on Twitter: Minesh Khashu(@mkrettiwt) & Jeremy Scrivens (@jeremyscrivens)

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

4 February 2016

New paper by Dr Julie Robson in the Journal of Business Research

Research themes jmemery

Dr Julie Robson (based in FoM) has had her article ‘ Senior management perceptions of aspirational groups: A study of the UK general insurance market’ published in the Journal of Business Research. The paper, co-authored by Professor Hans van der Heijden at the University of Sussex, draws insight from consumer marketing on aspirational groups to explore the composition and structure of aspirational groups compared to strategic groups in a market setting. The findings contribute to knowledge on strategy formation by highlighting the important role aspirational groups play in understanding competitive market movements.

4 January 2016

Fusion Investment Fund (Santander) — in collaboration with the Financial University, BU is organising “Digital momentum for SMEs” workshop

Fusion Investment Fund, Public engagement ebolat

BU is continuing to strengthen the partnership with Financial University under the Government of Russian Federation (FU) in Moscow, Russia. Faculty of Management academics, Dr Elvira Bolat (Department of Marketing), Dr Sukanay Ayatakshi Endow and Dr Parisa Gilani (both from the Department of Leadership, Strategy and Organisations) are organising one day FBU workshop titled ‘Digital momentum for SMEs’. FU is hosting the event which will take place on 12th March 2016. The FBU interactive workshop is targeting 40 attendees including Russian SMEs, marketing and management academics, and FU students.

Digital technologies have expanded the business opportunities made possible by the invention of the Internet. SMEs are particularly benefiting from the deployment of digital technologies and respective capabilities. Benefits include new jobs, new experiences in the form of services and products, innovative and cost-effective business models, new ways to fund startups as well as numerous options to effectively communicate with various stakeholders. Numerous workshops and conferences across the subjects around SMEs’ finances, SMEs’ marketing and management are all fragmented focusing on particular nuances of various aspects within the SMEs’ decision-making processes. Nevertheless, an interdisciplinary nature of this research field requires collective academic thinking – to result in recommendations which are meaningful and instrumental to increasing the impact of SMEs globally.

BU has teaching, research and professional practice interests across the disciplines contributing to the theme of the workshop, “Digital momentum for SMEs”. The aim of the FBU workshop is to communicate the existing research expertise of BU academics. Hence, the FBU workshop is grounded on previous events hosted and delivered by BU academics, (1) BU Festival of Learning 2013 workshop “Mobile momentum: Creating opportunities and being SMART ” (led by Dr Bolat); (2) “Social Entrepreneurship – What, How and Why?” event, in association with the School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE) Hampshire (led by Dr Ayatakshi Endow). Hence, in addition to nurturing the BU and FU partnership, the FBU workshop will boost BU’s interdisciplinary research output, and increase contributions to teaching and grant proposals related to the following themes: (1) digital marketing; (2) entrepreneurship.

The FBU international workshop will cover the following list of research areas unique to BU:

Understanding SMEs and their owners;
Leadership in the context of SMEs;
Digital leadership;
Digital marketing for SMEs;
Digital capabilities and their role in SMEs’ innovation practices;
The crowdfunding phenomenon;
Digital crowdfunding: main drivers of success;
Digital momentum for SMEs: Lessons from the UK SMEs.

The overall visit to Moscow will last up to four days which will include meetings with Russian academics regarding collaborative research agendas.

17 December 2015

Impacting on policy and process: BU Corporate Social Responsibility expert informs discussions at German Football Association’s annual congress

Fusion, international, Publishing tbreitbarth

Management academic Dr Tim Breitbarth (Department of Sport & Physical Activity) was invited by the German Football Association (DFB) to provide input and add to the discussions at DFB’s 1^st Annual Congress on Social Responsibility. With over six million members, DFB is the largest single sports federation in the world.

Held in Hennef on November 26^th-27^th, the event brought together 70 of the DFB’s executives and leadership team from across the country, including vice-presidents, directors and representatives from all regions and states. Tim contributed as an external expert panelist for the moderated ‘fireside discussion’ that kicked-off the ambitious program and provided guidance at the start of the workshop on communication and marketing value of corporate social responsibility in the context of the sports association.

The DFB seeks to take a proactive stance on reflecting upon and invigorating its socio-political role and policies, especially by encouraging its regional and local entities and more than 25,000 individual clubs to embrace the process.

Recently, Tim provided Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) communication expertise to DFB’s Social Responsibility Commission (see this blog post) and moderated a similar event for Sport Federation Lower-Saxony, which is the umbrella organization for almost 10,000 sports clubs and 3 individual million members.

His engagement and expertise is underpinned by his research, e.g. manifested in a recent special issue of Corporate Governance on “Governance and CSR management in sport” and an upcoming special issue of Journal of Public Affairs on “The marketing and public affairs of sustainability”.

14 December 2015

Dr Lenia Marques expands collaboration with Recife, Brazil

Fusion, international, Knowledge Exchange, Publishing lmarques

Dr. Lenia Marques recently visited Recife, in Brazil, where she was invited as a keynote speaker for the celebrations of the 20^th anniversary of the Department of Hospitality and Tourism at the Federal University of Pernambuco. The audience warmly welcomed her presentation on creative economy, tourism and events.

Besides this talk, Dr. Lenia Marques participated in a number of other meetings, including discussions to prepare future projects related to the development of creative economy activities in Pernambuco State. These meetings involved different stakeholders, including representatives of the public administration, creative entrepreneurs and NGO’s. One of the outputs of this collaboration is a study on network sociality, which has now been submitted for publication.

1 December 2015

HSS Writing Week 4th-8th January – How can Bournemouth University Clinical Research Unit support you?

Publishing, writing Lisa Andrews

The Faculty of Health and Social Sciences is holding a Writing Week between 4th-8th January 2016 aimed at supporting staff to find time in their busy academic diaries to prioritise writing grant applications and papers for publication.

The Bournemouth University Clinical Research Unit offers methodological and statistical collaboration for all healthcare researchers in the area. It supports researchers in improving the quality, quantity and efficiency of research across Bournemouth University and local National Health Service (NHS) Trusts. It incorporates the Dorset office of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Research Design Service who offer free methodological support to researchers who are developing research ideas in the field of health and social care.

BUCRU will be supporting Writing Week in HSS by holding two drop-in sessions on Tuesday 5th January and Thursday 7th January 12-2pm in R508 Royal London House. We would also like to extend the invitation across the other Faculties for anyone who feels we may be able to support them. For those unable to attend the drop-in sessions, we would be delighted to arrange an alternative appointment.

Please see further information here, contact our adminstrator Louise Ward on 01202 961939 / bucru@bournemouth.ac.uk or visit our website. We look forward to seeing you!

23 November 2015

Jaeyeon Choe PhD, recent book chapters.

Knowledge Exchange, Women's Academic Network jchoe

Jaeyeon Choe PhD, a new member of the Department of Events & Leisure has just published book chapters that you might be interested in using for teaching or research. Please contact Jaeyeon at jchoe@bournemouth.ac.uk for a PDF copy of each chapter for research and/or teaching purposes.

“Developing Student Engagement in China through Collaborative Action Research” in Tourism Education: Global Trends and Issues (2015) Amazon Book link

“China’s Tourism’s March Forward: Towards a Green Transition or Unsustainable Tourism” in Tourism in the Green Economy (2015) Amazon Book link

“Religious Tourism Experiences in South East Asia” in Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Management: An International Perspective (2015) Amazon Book link

Thank you! 🙂

20 November 2015

Creating Impact: BU Partner of 1st German CSR Communication Congress

Business Engagement, conferences, international, Knowledge Exchange, Knowledge Transfer tbreitbarth

More than 200 communication and corporate social responsibility (CSR) professionals attended the 1^st German CSR Communication Congress last week in Osnabrueck. Due to management academic Dr Tim Breitbarth’s involvement in initiating, organising and moderating this successful event, BU was recognised as one of its academic partners.

This first congress was based on a collaboration between the German Public Relations Association (DPRG), the European Business Ethics Network Germany (DNWE) and the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU). Dr Breitbarth is a founding member of the CSR working group within the DPRG.

Welcoming speeches (e.g. from a representative from the German Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs), the keynote (from the editor-in-chief of a well-known business magazine), the panel discussion (e.g. with the director corporate sustainability of Tchibo and a board member of Transparency International Germany) and special workshops of the 1.5-day congress revolved around the rising relevance of internal and external CSR communication – e.g. in the context of increasing pressure to report on CSR; the need for constructive stakeholder dialogue; and in order to manifest internal support for sustainability strategies. Dr Breitbarth moderated the workshop on social media and online communication.

Mainly, attendees came from large firms like Aldi, Audi and German Telecom; internationally successful SMEs; leading sustainability and communication agencies; and influential civil society organisations. Reviews of the congress are widely available in respective German media. Feedback from participants very much suggests that the event built-up specific knowledge, provided inspiration to solve individual challenges and helped to create valuable business contacts. The second congress will be held in 2017.

9 November 2015

Upcoming CfE / FM Event: Meet the Entrepreneur – Simon Phelps

Business Engagement Nikki Harvey

Tuesday 24 November 2015
2pm arrival for a 2:30pm start
Executive Business Centre, 89 Holdenhurst Road, Bournemouth, BH8 8EB

The Business School and Centre for Entrepreneurship are delighted to invite you to the first in our series of ‘Meet the Entrepreneur’ events.

Simon Phelps founded Fluvial Innovations Ltd alongside BU in 2006 and designed, developed and patented the modular flood barrier, Floodstop. Floodstop was specifically designed to fill a gap within the market for a functional and rapidly deployable flood barrier.

This is a great opportunity to hear about Simon’s personal journey as an entrepreneur and learn more about his own experiences as a business owner and his approach to founding and growing an innovative business.

Floodstop is used throughout the UK, US and parts of Europe and won the Emergency Planners Society’s Award for Most Innovative Product of The Year 2009 and voted “The Most Innovative Product of 2009” by the Emergency Planning Society.

Simon’s achievements include UK South West Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 and HSBC Start-Up Stars Regional Finalist 2008.

THIS IS AN INTERNAL EVENT FOR BU STUDENTS & STAFF ONLY

To book please click here

27 October 2015

BU Events research and disaster management research at ATLAS conference

conferences, Publishing, REF Subjects lmarques

Prof. Lee Miles and Dr. Lenia Marques presented their latest research outcomes at the ATLAS (Association for Tourism and Leisure Education) annual conference, which took place in Lisbon (Portugal), between 20-23 October 2015.

In this international encounter, the topics and discussion were around the umbrella theme of “Risk in travel and tourism: Geographies, behaviours and strategies”.

Prof. Lee Miles, representing the Disaster Management Centre developed further contact and cooperation with scholars of tourism by presenting two papers at the conference. The first single authored paper was on “Integrating Crisis Management and Tourism? Key Roles for Policy Entrepreneurs and Entrepreneurial Resilience?” that represents an area of major research development at BUDMC. This was followed by an additional paper, co-authored with colleague Richard Gordon, that explored conceptualising blame wars during and after the onset of disasters affecting the tourist sector, entitled “Blame Games and Meaning Making: Influencing Decision-Making on Disasters for Tourist Destinations”.

Dr. Lenia Marques participated in an ATLAS SIG (special interest group) meeting with a focus on events, which she has been part of since its foundation in 2011. In this meeting, she presented the first results of a joint research project with Maria Podesta, researcher at the Politecnico di Milano (Italy). The paper analysed how knowledge-based events are playing a strategic role in place-making. This topic relates closely to the challenges policy-makers and the events sector are currently facing in developing relationships between urban development and social cohesion.

The papers led to fruitful discussions and the conference was also a good opportunity for networking activities.

26 October 2015

BU management academic advises German Football Association on CSR

Business Engagement, Fusion, international, Publishing tbreitbarth

Principal Academic Dr Tim Breitbarth (Department of Sport & Physical Activity) was invited by German Football Association (DFB) to provide CSR communication expertise to its Social Responsibility Commission. Speaking yesterday, his input focused on the interlink between CSR integration and communication, and concluded with some strategic and operational suggestions. The impact of Tims’ consultation will be felt, his presentation sparked lengthy discussion and reflection amongst members of the Commission who proposed additional action and follow-up work.

Input perhaps never been more timely

At present the DFB is challenged by investigative media stories about non-transparent financial transactions in the context of hosting the 2006 FIFA World Championship. The long-standing Commission comprises of leaders of the association (e.g. vice president, director, heads of regional football associations), leaders from civil society organisations and other relevant external experts.

Expertise on CSR drawn upon by media and academic sources

Recently, Tim was interviewed a few times on his area of expertise, e.g. for the article “Where the money comes from” in Le Monde diplomatique (www.exacteditions.com/read/diplomatique/july-2015-43324/13/3 ). Furthermore, amongst other, he was the lead convenor of the well-attended workshop “CSR communication in sport” at the recent 23^rd European Association for Sport Management in September; is the lead guest editor of the special issue “Governance and CSR management in sport” in Corporate Governance (ABS 2*), published in summer (www.emeraldinsight.com/toc/cg/15/2); and is co-organiser of and moderator at the industry-focused 1^st German CSR Communications Congress, held in November (www.csr-kongress.de).

Category / Business & Management Studies