Enhancing the transparency of accounting research: the case of narrative analysis

Purpose – This paper aims to clarify what ‘narrative analysis’ may entail when it is assumed that interview accounts can be treated as (collections of) narratives. What is considered a narrative and how these may be analyzed is open to debate. After suggesting an approach of how to deal with narrative analysis, the authors critically discuss how far it might offer insights into a particular accounting case. Design/methodology/approach – After having explained what the authors’ view on narrative analysis is, and how this is linked with the extant literature, the authors examine the socialisation processes of two early career accountants that have been articulated in an interview context. Findings – The approach to narrative analysis set out in this paper could help to clarify how and why certain interpretations from an interview are generated by a researcher. The authors emphasise the importance of discussing a researcher’s process of discovery when an interpretive approach to research is adopted. Research limitations/implications – The application of any method, and what a researcher thinks can be distilled from this, depends on the research outlook he/she has. As the authors adopt an interpretive approach to research in this paper, they acknowledge that the interpretations of narratives, and what they deem to be narratives, will be infused by their own perceptions. Practical implications – The authors believe that the writing-up of qualitative research from an interpretive stance would benefit from an explicit acceptance of the equivocal nature of interpretation. The way in which they present and discuss the narrative analyses in this paper intends to bring this to the fore. Originality/value – Whenever someone says he/she engages in narrative analysis, both the “narrative” and “analysis” part of “narrative analysis” need to be explicated. The authors believe that this only happens every so often. This paper puts forward an approach of how more clarity on this might be achieved by combining two frameworks in the extant literature, so that the transparency of the research is enhanced.

A question of fit:cultural and individual differences in interpersonal justice perceptions

This study examined the link between employees’ adult attachment orientations and perceptions of line managers’ interpersonal justice behaviors, and the moderating effect of national culture (collectivism). Participants from countries categorized as low collectivistic (N = 205) and high collectivistic (N = 136) completed an online survey. Attachment anxiety and avoidance were negatively related to interpersonal justice perceptions. Cultural differences did not moderate the effects of avoidance. However, the relationship between attachment anxiety and interpersonal justice was non-significant in the Southern Asia (more collectivistic) cultural cluster. Our findings indicate the importance of ‘fit’ between cultural relational values and individual attachment orientations in shaping interpersonal justice perceptions, and highlight the need for more non-western organizational justice research.

Comparing Several Methods of Discriminant Analysis on the Case of Wine Data

2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: 62H30, 62J20, 62P12, 68T99

Vezetőkkel szemben támasztott munkaerő-piaci kompetenciaelvárások a Heti Világgazdaság és a The Economist álláshirdetéseinek elemzése alapján (Job market competency requirements for managers on the basis of the analysis of job advertisements in the Heti Világgazdaság and The Economist)

A szervezet dolgozói között kiemelt fontosságúak a vezetők, hiszen döntéseikkel, működésükkel a szervezet életét közvetlenül, és sokszor hosszú távra befolyásolják. Annak a vállalatnak, mely megtartani, növelni szeretné piaci pozícióját, különös hangsúlyt kell fektetnie vezetőinek kiválasztására, a későbbiekben pedig fejlesztésére. A szerző cikkében azt mutatja be, hogy a közgazdászképzettséggel rendelkező vezetők iránti munkaerő-piaci kereslet (a HVG-hirdetések elemzése alapján) milyen minőségi jellemzőket mutatott 2000–2009 között. A szerző részletesen ismerteti az eredményeket, melyek értelmezéséhez a Spencer és munkatársai által kidolgozott kompetenciamodell saját továbbfejlesztett változatát használja fel. Kitekintés céljával a magyar eredmények mellett bemutatja, hogy egy más gazdasági struktúrával, kultúrával rendelkező országban hogyan alakultak a vezetőkkel szemben támasztott kompetencia-elvárások. Az eredmények – melyeket más hazai felmérések is alátámasztanak – azt tükrözik, hogy a magyar vezetőkkel szemben támasztott munkaerő-piaci kompetencia-elvárások eltérnek a szakmai várakozásoktól és élesen eltérő képet mutatnak a The Economist hirdetéselemzésének eredményétől. _________ The thesis that the most important factor which determines the competitiveness of future companies is the quality of human resources has received increasingly more emphasis in the literature on management. The managers of organizations have a key role since they can directly influence the life of the organization by their decisions and work, often for a long term. Therefore, a company which intends to maintain or improve its market position should place special emphasis on the selection, and later on the development of its managers. In the present paper the author presents the characteristic features of job market demand for managers with qualifications in economics between 2000 and 2009 (on the basis of the analysis of job advertisements published in the economic weekly paper Heti Világgazdaság). The author gives a detailed analysis of the results using the competence model developed by Spencer et al. and further developed by the author. In addition to the Hungarian results, the paper also provides an overview of how managers are selected in a country with a different economic structure and culture. The results – also supported by other surveys conducted in Hungary – demonstrate that the competence expectations of the job market for Hungarian managers fail to meet professional expectations; the picture is sharply different from what the analysis of job advertisements published in The Economist show, and the competence expectation changed very little, though quite strikingly, over the period under discussion.

Use of conjoint analysis to examine beliefs related to the practice of early literacy instruction

The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between teacher beliefs and actual classroom practice in early literacy instruction. Conjoint analysis was used to measure teachers' beliefs on four early literacy factors—phonological awareness, print awareness, graphophonic awareness, and structural awareness. A collective case study format was then used to measure the correspondence of teachers' beliefs with their actual classroom practice. ^ Ninety Project READS participants were given twelve cards in an orthogonal experimental design describing students that either met or did not meet criteria on the four early literacy factors. Conjoint measurements of whether the student is an efficient reader were taken. These measurements provided relative importance scores for each respondent. Based on the relative important scores, four teachers were chosen to participate in a collective case study. ^ The conjoint results enabled the clustering of teachers into four distinct groups, each aligned with one of the four early literacy factors. K-means cluster analysis of the relative importance measurements showed commonalities among the ninety respondents' beliefs. The collective case study results were mixed. Implications for researchers and practitioners include the use of conjoint analysis in measuring teacher beliefs on the four early literacy factors. Further, the understanding of teacher preferences on these beliefs may assist in the development of curriculum design and therefore increase educational effectiveness. Finally, comparisons between teachers' beliefs on the four early literacy factors and actual instructional practices may facilitate teacher self-reflection thus encouraging positive teacher change. ^

Application of intervention analysis to evaluate the impacts of special events on freeways

In China in particular, large, planned special events (e.g., the Olympic Games, etc.) are viewed as great opportunities for economic development. Large numbers of visitors from other countries and provinces may be expected to attend such events, bringing in significant tourism dollars. However, as a direct result of such events, the transportation system is likely to face great challenges as travel demand increases beyond its original design capacity. Special events in central business districts (CBD) in particular will further exacerbate traffic congestion on surrounding freeway segments near event locations. To manage the transportation system, it is necessary to plan and prepare for such special events, which requires prediction of traffic conditions during the events. This dissertation presents a set of novel prototype models to forecast traffic volumes along freeway segments during special events. Almost all research to date has focused solely on traffic management techniques under special event conditions. These studies, at most, provided a qualitative analysis and there was a lack of an easy-to-implement method for quantitative analyses. This dissertation presents a systematic approach, based separately on univariate time series model with intervention analysis and multivariate time series model with intervention analysis for forecasting traffic volumes on freeway segments near an event location. A case study was carried out, which involved analyzing and modelling the historical time series data collected from loop-detector traffic monitoring stations on the Second and Third Ring Roads near Beijing Workers Stadium. The proposed time series models, with expected intervention, are found to provide reasonably accurate forecasts of traffic pattern changes efficiently. They may be used to support transportation planning and management for special events.

Application of Intervention Analysis to Evaluate the Impacts of Special Events on Freeways

In China in particular, large, planned special events (e.g., the Olympic Games, etc.) are viewed as great opportunities for economic development. Large numbers of visitors from other countries and provinces may be expected to attend such events, bringing in significant tourism dollars. However, as a direct result of such events, the transportation system is likely to face great challenges as travel demand increases beyond its original design capacity. Special events in central business districts (CBD) in particular will further exacerbate traffic congestion on surrounding freeway segments near event locations. To manage the transportation system, it is necessary to plan and prepare for such special events, which requires prediction of traffic conditions during the events. This dissertation presents a set of novel prototype models to forecast traffic volumes along freeway segments during special events. Almost all research to date has focused solely on traffic management techniques under special event conditions. These studies, at most, provided a qualitative analysis and there was a lack of an easy-to-implement method for quantitative analyses. This dissertation presents a systematic approach, based separately on univariate time series model with intervention analysis and multivariate time series model with intervention analysis for forecasting traffic volumes on freeway segments near an event location. A case study was carried out, which involved analyzing and modelling the historical time series data collected from loop-detector traffic monitoring stations on the Second and Third Ring Roads near Beijing Workers Stadium. The proposed time series models, with expected intervention, are found to provide reasonably accurate forecasts of traffic pattern changes efficiently. They may be used to support transportation planning and management for special events.

Méthode d'étude moléculaire des tumeurs rares pédiatriques = Methods of molecular analysis to study rare paediatric tumours

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

The automation of protein crystal presentation for x ray diffraction experiments using standing acoustic waves in a microfluidic chip environment

As the pressure continues to grow on Diamond and the world's synchrotrons for higher throughput of diffraction experiments, new and novel techniques are required for presenting micron dimension crystals to the X ray beam. Currently this task is both labour intensive and primarily a serial process. Diffraction measurements typically take milliseconds but sample preparation and presentation can reduce throughput down to 4 measurements an hour. With beamline waiting times as long as two years it is of key importance for researchers to capitalize on available beam time, generating as much data as possible. Other approaches detailed in the literature [1] [2] [3] are very much skewed towards automating, with robotics, the actions of a human protocols. The work detailed here is the development and discussion of a bottom up approach relying on SSAW self assembly, including material selection, microfluidic integration and tuning of the acoustic cavity to order the protein crystals.

The automation of protein crystal presentation for X ray diffraction experiments using standing acoustic waves in a microfluidic chip environment

As the pressure continues to grow on Diamond and the world's synchrotrons for higher throughput of diffraction experiments, new and novel techniques are required for presenting micron dimension crystals to the X ray beam. Currently this task is both labour intensive and primarily a serial process. Diffraction measurements typically take milliseconds but sample preparation and presentation can reduce throughput down to 4 measurements an hour. With beamline waiting times as long as two years it is of key importance for researchers to capitalize on available beam time, generating as much data as possible. Other approaches detailed in the literature [1] [2] [3] are very much skewed towards automating, with robotics, the actions of a human protocols. The work detailed here is the development and discussion of a bottom up approach relying on SSAW self assembly, including material selection, microfluidic integration and tuning of the acoustic cavity to order the protein crystals.

Méthode d'étude moléculaire des tumeurs rares pédiatriques = Methods of molecular analysis to study rare paediatric tumours

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.