Majority and minority influence using the afterimage paradigm:a replication with an unambiguous blue slide

This study re-examines the afterimage paradigm which claims to show that a minority produces a conversion in a task involving afterimage judgements (more private influence than public influence) as opposed to mere compliance produced by a majority. Subsequent failures to replicate this finding have suggested that the changes in the afterimages could be attributed to increased attention due to an ambiguous stimulus coupled with subject suspiciousness. This study attempted to replicate the original experiment but with an unambiguous stimulus in order to remove potential biases. The results showed shifts in afterimages consistent with the increased attention hypothesis for a minority and majority and these were unaffected by the level of suspiciousness reported by the subjects. Additional data shows that no shifts were found in a no-influence control condition showing that shifts were related to exposure to a deviant source and not to response repetition.

The effects of ingroup-outgroup membership on minority influence when group membership is determined by a trivial categorisation

Two experiments are reported which investigate the influence of ingroup and outgroup minority influence where group membership was determined according to a trivial dimension. The results of the first experiment replicate an earlier study and show that an ingroup minority has significantly more influence than an outgroup minority. In the second study the connotations associated with membership of the ingroup and outgroup (positive/negative) were experimentally manipulated. When ingroup/outgroup membership was associated with a positive/negative image respectively, the ingroup minority had the most influence. However, when ingroup/outgroup membership was associated with a negative/positive image, as predicted, an outgroup minority had more influence than an ingroup minority. These results are interpreted as supporting an intergroup analysis of minority influence processes.

Minority influence and social categorization:a replication

The effects of ingroup and outgroup minorities upon public and private levels of influence was examined. The results show that whilst ingroup minorities have greater influence in public, outgroup minorities can have as much, if not more influence than ingroup minorities when responses are made in private. These results are consistent with previous research and support the social identijkation model of social influence.

Minority influence and 'trivial' social categorization

This experiment examines ingroup and outgroup minority influence when group membership was determined by a trivial categorization. The results show that ingroup minorities had more public influence than outgroup minorities when the categorization was trivial and when subjects also believed that they were similar to their ingroup. However, no differences were found when group membership was not associated with similarity. These results are interpreted as supporting the social identification model of social influence.

Agents for change and changed agents:the micro-politics of change and feminism in the academy

This article explores gender politics and processes in the academy and investigates change from the perspectives of feminist academics. In particular, it explores the experiences of women academics attempting to effect change to the gendered status quo of their own institutions. Focusing on micro-politics, the feminist movement is empirically explored in localized spaces of resistance and in the small but significant individual efforts at making changes in academic institutions. The analysis is based on interviews with female academics working in business and management schools and focuses on the challenges for change and how change attempts affect their personal and professional identities. The article explores the range of change strategies that participants use as they try to progress in their academic career while staying true to their feminist values and priorities through both resisting and incorporating dominant discourses of academic work. The analysis highlights such tensions and focuses on a contextualized, bottom-up perspective on change that, unlike more totalizing theorization, takes into account mundane and lived experiences at the level of the individual. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

A management tool for developing the relationships between large purchasing organisations and small ethnic minority suppliers

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to scrutinise the characteristics of the relationship between large purchasing organisations (LPOs) and ethnic minority suppliers (EMSs) engaging with supplier diversity programmes and provide an assessment and developmental framework for such organisations. Design/methodology/approach: Having considered an array of purchaser-supplier relationship frameworks in relevant streams of literature, the paper draws on Lamming et al.'s framework to advance a tool for assessing and developing the relationship between LPOs and EMSs. Findings: The submitted relationship assessment and development framework brings in sharp focus the characteristics of the relationship between LPO and EMS, providing a systematic way to examine the inter-organisational context within which EMS development takes place. Research limitations/implications: The framework submitted could signpost future research in this field, which should take a longitudinal, processual approach. This is necessary to provide opportunities to examine the dynamics underlying the development of potent LPO-EMS relationships in a variety of settings, including negative instances. Practical implications: The paper has implications for corporate policy making and practice in this arena. Assessing the potency of LPOs-EMSs relationships by applying the proffered tool can help both parties engage with supplier diversity, to develop fruitful relationships that enhance their competitiveness. Social implications: The latter can have social implications, as EMSs often operate in and employ people from disadvantaged communities. Originality/value: The framework advanced in this article constitutes a novel tool that highlights the areas in which LPOs and EMSs should channel their efforts, in order to develop a potent relationship between them, which underpins the development of EMSs' supply capabilities. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

ICT adoption and ebusiness development:Understanding ICT adoption amongst ethnic minority businesses

This paper builds upon a series of studies that have identified the comparatively low uptake of ICT amongst EMBs (Ram and Smallbone, 1999; Foley and Ram 2002; Allinson et al., 2004). Existing studies have only tentatively considered the causal factors for this lower adoption rate in comparison to non-EMBs. Within the context of a pilot study, aiming to understand ICT adoption amongst EMBs, an action research approach is adopted as a means of influencing, evaluating and underpinning ICT adoption (Beckinsale and Ram, 2006). The approach is methodologically distinctive in its utilization of action research with a critical realist approach as a means of policy evaluation; this is conducive to 'policy learning', and the understanding of causal mechanisms in the EMBs. Actors involved in the implementation were interviewed, as well as the business owners themselves. Another distinguishing feature is the application of Yap et al.'s (1992) schema to identify causal mechanisms, to examine actions and experiences and to understand the impact on the EMBs studied. The findings highlight the complex interaction and relationships of internal and external factors in shaping approaches to ICT implementation. Factors such as size, strategy and business age are germane but so too, albeit to a lesser degree, are cultural influences such as involvement in co-ethnic networks. Significantly, changes to particular causal mechanisms such as business support altered adoption and implementation of ICT. Distinct issues for Chinese and Asian-owned business and potentially more broadly EMBs are identified providing a framework for other EMBs. © The Author(s) 2010.

Transnationalism as a force for ethnic minority enterprise? The case of Somalis in Leicester

The extant literature on the phenomenon of transnational entrepreneurship has documented that in an era characterized by ‘superdiversity’, ethnic minorities use their diasporic networks to access an array of valuable resources in order to facilitate entrepreneurial activity. The article examines the connection between the notions of ‘superdiversity’, transnationalism and entrepreneurship by illuminating the dynamics of ‘transnational’ Somali business activity in Leicester. Considering this as a critical case, we attempt to address a gap in the literature on ethnic minority enterprise, which has struggled to address the ‘diversification of diversity’ that attends the arrival of new communities in the UK. Moreover, the article contributes to the discussion on the importance of ‘conditioning factors’ in explaining the ‘integration’ of new arrivals. Although familial and co-ethnic ties influence the availability and interaction of social, financial and human capital, this falls considerably short of neoliberal depictions of globalization. The political-economic context imposes harsh constraints upon Somali business activity which cannot be circumvented by the utilization of diasporic links, and transnational entrepreneurship is likely to be the preserve of a minority of minorities.

Experimenting with supply chain learning (SCL):supplier diversity and ethnic minority businesses

This paper reports on an innovative UK-based ‘Supply Chain Learning’ (SCL) initiative to encourage the corporate sector to consider supplier diversity in respect of ethnic minority businesses. This follows academic and policy interest in programmes to empower ethnic minority enterprises to achieve breakout to mainstream markets and business growth. The first phase of the initiative, entitled Supplier Development East Midlands (SDEM) is examined. By adopting an inter-organisational action learning approach, some of the key attributes of the programme are delineated, focusing on the recurrent action-reflection cycle taking place in a learning group comprising SDEM, LPOs (Large Purchasing Organisations) and small EMSs (Ethnic Minority Suppliers).

Expropriation of minority shareholders and payout policy

This paper studies the payout policy of Italian firms controlled by large majority shareholders (controlled firms). The paper reports that a firm’s share of dividends in total payout (dividends plus repurchases) is negatively related to the size of the cash flow stake of the firm’s controlling shareholder and positively associated with the wedge between the controlling shareholder’s control rights and cash flow rights. These findings are consistent with the substitute model of payout. One of the implications of this model is that controlled firms with weak corporate governance set-ups, in which controlling shareholders have strong incentives to expropriate minority shareholders, tend to prefer dividends over repurchases when disgorging cash.

Ties that bind:understanding why and how diversity management relates to black and ethnic minority employees’ experience of organisational life

Despite much anecdotal and oftentimes empirical evidence that black and ethnic minority employees do not feel integrated into organisational life and the implications of this lack of integration for their career progression, there is a dearth of research on the nature of the relationship black and ethnic minority employees have with their employing organisations. Additionally, research examining the relationship between diversity management and work outcomes has returned mixed findings. Scholars have attributed this to the lack of an empirically validated measure of workforce diversity management. Accordingly, I sought to address these gaps in the extant literature in a two-part study grounded in social exchange theory. In Study 1, I developed and validated a measure of workforce diversity management practices. Data obtained from a sample of ethnic minority employees from a cross section of organisations provided support for the validity of the scale. In Study 2, I proposed and tested a social-exchange-based model of the relationship between black and ethnic minority employees’ and their employing organisations, as well as assessed the implications of this relationship for their work outcomes. Specifically, I hypothesised: (i) perception of support for diversity, perception of overall justice, and developmental experiences (indicators of integration into organisational life) as mediators of the relationship between diversity management and social exchange with organisation; (ii) the moderating influence of diversity climate on the relationship between diversity management and these indicators of integration; and (iii) the work outcomes of social exchange with organisation defined in terms of career satisfaction, turnover intention and strain. SEM results provide support for most of the hypothesised relationships. The findings of the study contribute to the literature on workforce diversity management in a number of ways. First, the development and validation of a diversity management practice scale constitutes a first step in resolving the difficulty in operationalising and measuring the diversity management construct. Second, it explicates how and why diversity management practices influence a social exchange relationship with an employing organisation, and the implications of this relationship for the work outcomes of black and ethnic minority employees. My study’s focus on employee work outcomes is an important corrective to the predominant focus on organisational-level outcomes of diversity management. Lastly, by focusing on ethno-racial diversity my research complements the extant research on such workforce diversity indicators as age and gender.

Constructing their own space: British Asians explore cultural identity, women, gender differences and feminism within multicultural society.

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Pain management programmes for non-English-speaking black and minority ethnic groups with long-term or chronic pain

Increasing ethnic diversity in the UK means that there is a growing need for National Health Service care to be delivered to non-English-speaking patients. The aims of the present systematic review were to: (1) better understand the outcomes of chronic pain management programmes (PMPs) for ethnic minority and non-English-speaking patients and (2) explore the perspectives on and experiences of chronic pain for these groups. A systematic review identified 26 papers meeting the inclusion criteria; no papers reported on the outcomes of PMPs delivered in the UK. Of the papers obtained, four reported on PMPs conducted outside the UK; eight reported on ethnic differences in patients seeking support from pain management services in America; and the remaining papers included literature reviews, an experimental pain study, a collaborative enquiry, and a survey of patient and clinician ratings of pain. The findings indicate a lack of research into UK-based pain management for ethnic minorities and non-English-speaking patients. The literature suggests that effective PMPs must be tailored to meet cultural experiences of pain and beliefs about pain management. There is a need for further research to explore these cultural beliefs in non-English-speaking groups in the UK. Culturally sensitive evaluations of interpreted PMPs with long-term follow-up are needed to assess the effectiveness of current provision. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.