Browsing by Author "White, Gareth R. T."
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Item Open Access Antecedents of Cybersecurity Implementation: A Study of the Cyber-Preparedness of U.K. Social Enterprises(IEEE, 2020-06-10) White, Gareth R. T.; Allen, Robert Anthony; Samuel, Anthony; Abdullah, Ahmed; Thomas, Robert J.The cybersecurity of organizations is a subject of perennial concern as they are subject to mounting threats in an increasingly digitalized world. While commercial and charitable organizations have been the objects of cybersecurity research, social enterprises (SEs) have remained unexplored. As SEs have become increasingly important features of social and economic development, so their prominence as potential targets of cybercrime also increases. In order to address this knowledge gap, this article examines the factors that influence the cyber-preparedness of SEs in the U.K. Through the use of semistructured interviews with SE owner-managers, these factors are found to comprise the characteristics of the enterprise, the characteristics of the enterprise management, resource constraints, experience of cyberattacks, usage of IT, and awareness of cybersecurity schemes and resources. These insights provide valuable guidance for SE owner-managers, SE support agencies, and policy-makers when considering the cybersecurity of SEs. These findings are of immediate concern to SEs but also to other organizations that are engaged in partnerships with them as SEs may afford “gateway” opportunities to those with malicious intent.Item Open Access Boundary objects at play in the world's greenest football club(Wiley, 2024) Samuel, Anthony; White, Gareth R. T.; Thomas, Robert; McGouran, Cathy; Bull, MichelIn the face of increasing environmental and societal pressures, organizations are gradually moving away from merely reducing their detrimental effects toward making positive impacts. One sizeable sector of economic activity, that is frequently overlooked, is that of sport, of which football is the largest in terms of economic value, fan base and global cultural influence. It is only relatively recently that outliers in the football industry have transitioned from being purely profit‐motivated to being both socially and environmentally aware. This transition is challenging since it is being undertaken within the often aggressively masculine environment, as well as the deep‐seated socio‐historical origins and contexts of the individual clubs and the sport as a whole. One such outlying football club is Forest Green Rovers which appears to have navigated this journey successfully. However, research has yet to understand “how” this has been achieved. This study addresses this gap through a 4‐year examination of the social and environmental initiatives of Forest Green Rovers. This lower‐league “club on the hill” is globally recognized for its novel approaches and solutions. Through examining the various Boundary Objects that aid in uniting disparate social groups in order to effect considerable changes to the “match day experience” and to stakeholders' consumption behaviors, it explains how their pragmatic, syntactic, and semantic functions combine to create an accepted suite of socially and environmentally beneficial initiatives.Item Open Access A communities of practice approach to promoting regional circular economy innovation: evidence from East Wales(Taylor & Francis, 2022-10-12) Lui, Zheng; James, Steffan; Walpole, Gary; White, Gareth R. T.With sustainability orientation and opportunities provided for economic growth, the circular economy is much promoted by the Welsh government in recent years. In this region, Communities of practice (CoP) are cultivated to link various industry sectors together, sharing knowledge and creating a practical solution to circular economy related challenges. While current literature provides the framework of a regional innovation ecosystem in the form of Triple Helix, the role of CoP is underexplored. The key research question of this paper is ‘how can the CoP approach cultivate regional circular economy innovation?’ Through an in-depth case study of the Communities of Circular Economy Innovation (CEIC) project in East Wales, the paper identifies the construct of CoP, its dynamic lifecycle, and the interaction between CoP and Triple Helix. Findings reveal that whilst universities and government play a leading role in innovation at early stages by deliberately establishing the CoP, the self-governance of CoP at later stages results in active influence on industry changes and policy designs. The paper contributes to the literature on micro-relations among regional innovation actors by highlighting the role of CoP in creating emerging new knowledge and tools. It also provides practical implications to industry and policy makers to promote a regional circular economy.Item Open Access Examining operational wastes within Greek banking operations(Emerald, 2019-02-28) Allen, Robert Anthony; Panagoulis, Giannis; White, Gareth R. T.In order to address operational effectiveness in the banking sector caused by the 2008 global economic crisis, this study examines the nature of operational wastes that exist within four large Greek banks. A Delphi study was undertaken with ten managers and ten employees. The waste of underutilised people is found to be the dominant form of waste present and affecting the efficiency of banking operations. This has implications for managers of banking operations needing to address efficiencies in an increasingly competitive global economic environment. The paper also highlights the drawbacks of analysing typologies of waste across organisations and industrial sectors.Item Open Access Exploring positive and negative intersectionality effects: an employment study of neurodiverse UK military veterans(Taylor & Francis, 2023-12-15) Allen, Robert A.; Dickmann, Michael; Priscott, Tamsin; White, Gareth R. T.Intersectional studies have examined the impact of personal characteristics upon employment experience, but little attention has been given to specificities of the neurodiverse and the military veteran. Both may possess skills and abilities that are desirable but there are several negative stereotypes that impact the acquisition and retention of work. Additionally, talent sourcing practices by employers can favour neurotypical people with a civilian background. Adopting a multi-method approach, this study explores barriers to employment and how they are compounded at the intersection of being a neurodiverse veteran (NDV). We surveyed 232 people with a medically diagnosed condition and conducted 21 semi-structured interviews to explore NDVs’ views about how the recruitment process and HR practices impact their employment relationship. Extant studies often depict the intersection of qualities to be disadvantageous for the populations studied, however, our research suggests that NDVs can have highly beneficial work capabilities. Our practical contribution includes the identification of key positive and negative aspects in the employment of NDVs and how organizations can refine their talent sourcing and management. Our theoretical contribution is made through a framework depicting the influences on NDVs’ employment relationships and a set of propositions that illuminate the intersectionality of neurodiverse and military veterans at work.Item Open Access Identifying the value of a clinical information system during the COVID-19 pandemic(Elsevier, 2021-12-24) Madhavan, Naveen; White, Gareth R. T.; Jones, W. PaulThe COVID-19 pandemic has significantly augmented the urgency for service providers to identify and develop clinically urgent system alterations into healthcare systems to facilitate antibody testing and treatment interventions. However, it has been difficult to determine how users assess the value of an information system in terms of its functionality and features. Conversely, the system development process to address urgent user requirements, for example, developing new functionality for COVID antibody testing, has been beset by a myriad of difficulties as research to understand the value of specific aspects of clinical information systems has been elusive. This study addresses this knowledge gap by identifying specific aspects of a national clinical information system in Wales, UK. Through a series of semi-structured interviews, a quantitative study of 559 clinical users and a focus group, the study deconstructs system-related value into 14 unique attributes that have been found to vary according to different types of user roles and geographic location. Attribution theory is identified in this study as a novel and effective way to study this multifaceted concept of system value. The identification of component attributes of the value of a clinical information system provides insights for service users, system developers, and organization managers to prioritize and focus their system development activity by using an importance ranking identified through this study.Item Open Access Innovation in crisis: The role of ‘exaptive relations’ for medical device development in response to COVID-19(Elsevier, 2022-07-15) James, Steffan; Liu, Zheng; Stephens, Victoria; White, Gareth R. T.The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in huge disruption to the healthcare sector. In response to this, there have been collaborative efforts between many different public and private organizations to foster medical innovations. The effect of crisis upon innovation, particularly medical innovation, remains a debatable subject. In addition, the role of inter-personal relations is becoming more widely acknowledged as a critical feature of innovation. Drawing upon exaptation literature, the study aims to understand the nature of the micro-relations within medical innovations that are undertaken in response to COVID-19. The findings of this paper contribute to the limited literature that examines the performance of medical innovation in response to crisis. In addition to confirming the importance of exaptive pools, exaptive events, and exaptive forums in fostering serendipitous developments, the study makes a contribution to theory by identifying a further form of serendipitous encounter that is ‘exaptive relations’.Item Open Access Introducing ethical theory to the triple helix model: supererogatory acts in crisis innovation(Elsevier, 2023-08-01) James, Steffan; Liu, Zheng; White, Gareth R. T.; Samuel, AnthonyTriple Helix has been widely discussed as a means of enabling innovation and economic development. Yet, despite the presence of a considerable corpus of literature, little is known about its functioning during times of crisis and the ethical dimensions of the relationships between the individuals of which it is comprised. This study addresses this gap through examining the interoperation of university, industry and government to respond to a social and economic emergency. Drawing upon the ethical theory of supererogation and evidence from three projects to innovate and develop medical devices, the paper makes important observations. First, the interoperation of Triple Helix appears perdurable under crisis conditions. Second, the micro-relations between individual actors enabled the ideation of new devices, the identification of resources and the minimisation of bureaucratic obstacles. Third, the micro-relational behaviours manifested as supererogatory acts between individuals. Collectively, these findings contribute to our understanding of Triple Helix beyond steady-state conditions and introduces an ethic-theoretical dimension to its examination that characterizes the nature of micro-relations between institutional actors.Item Open Access Mapping the ethic-theoretical foundations of artificial intelligence research(Wiley, 2024-02-06) White, Gareth R. T.; Samuel, Anthony; Jones, Paul; Madhavan, Naveen; Afolayan, Ademola; Abdullah, Ahmed; Kaushik, TanmayThe issue of artificial intelligence (AI) ethics is a prominent research subject. While there is a compendious literature that explores this area, surprisingly little of it makes explicit reference to the ethic-theoretical foundations upon which it is built. To address this matter, this study makes an examination of the AI ethics literature to identify its ethic-theoretical foundations. The study identifies the lack of AI ethics literature that draws upon seminal ethics works and the ensuing disconnectedness among the publications on this subject. It also uncovers numerous non-Western ethic-theoretical positions that can be adopted and may afford new insight into AI ethics research and practice. Employing these alternative lenses may obviate the tendency for Western worldviews to dominate the academic literature. The study provides some guidance for future AI ethics research which should endeavor to clearly articulate its chosen ethic-theoretical position, and for practice which could benefit from understanding and articulating the principles upon which AI systems are founded. It also provides some observations of, and guidance for, the utilization of Litmaps software in the conduct of Literature reviews.Item Open Access Reconciling social enterprise: beyond the paradox perspective(Emerald, 2022-01-11) White, Gareth R. T.; Samuel, Anthony; Peattie, Ken; Doherty, BobPurpose The paper aims to critically review the increasingly taken-for-granted view of social enterprise (SE) as inherently paradoxical and tackles the research question as follows: are the tensions experienced by SE and social entrepreneurs (SEnt) actually paradoxical and if not, what are the implications for theory and practice? Design/methodology/approach A paradox theory (PT) approach has been utilized to explore the implications, validity and helpfulness of the paradox perspective in understanding and managing the tensions that are inherent in SE. Findings Conceptualizing the primary tension of doing social good through commercial activity as a paradox is argued to be a limiting misnomer that conspires to reify and perpetuate the tensions that SE and SEnt have to manage. Drawing upon PT, the findings of the paper reconceptualize these tensions as myths, dilemmas and dialectics, which are subsequently used to develop a more complete ontological framework of the challenges that arise in SE and for SEnt. Practical implications Reconceptualizing the “inherent paradoxes” of SE as either dilemmas or dialectics affords a means of pursuing their successful resolution. Consequently, this view alleviates much of the pressure that SE managers and SEnt may feel in needing to pursue commercial goals alongside social goals. Originality/value The work presents new theoretical insights to challenge the dominant view of SE as inherently paradoxical.Item Open Access Servants and masters: an activity theory investigation of human-AI roles in the performance of work(Wiley, 2022-10-22) Allen, Robert A.; White, Gareth R. T.; Clement, Claire E.; Alexander, Paul; Samuel, AnthonyOrganizations considering AI adoption must be mindful of media that portrays dystopian future scenarios. While machine sentience remains philosophically and ethically moot, the future implications of AI adoption are unclear. The issues that surround AI adoption need to be examined but there are a lack of implementations cases around which empirical research can be undertaken and practical experience can be gained. AI adoption needs to be considered from multiple viewpoints including, but not necessarily limited to the social, ethical and legal issues, and not merely be reduced to questions of financial return or organizational efficiency.Item Open Access Socio-economic sustainability of Halal food production: an examination of poultry processing in Malaysia(The IJM.com, 2021-05-24) White, Gareth R. T.; Razak, A. A.; Thomas, A. J.; Allen, R. A.While significant research exists in the area of sustainable food supply chains, information pertaining specifically to the Halal supply chain is limited, with very little information being available on the economic and social sustainability of Halal facilities. Through a multi-staged research methodology, this study undertakes a single company case study of a Malaysian slaughter facility. It attempts to understand the deep-rooted issues surrounding why Halal slaughterhouses struggle to maintain socio-economic sustainability even though demand for Halal food within Malaysia has increased significantly over recent years. This research contributes to the knowledge of food supply chain sustainability through exploration of the idiosyncrasies of Halal food production. It proposes and adopts a Dynamic Mapping technique that enabled the capture of internal and external process knowledge, and the simulation of what-if scenarios to determine the effect of the complex interplay of multiple systems upon the economic and social sustainability of the organization. The study finds that both external and internal issues affect the sustainability of the company. From an internal perspective, the slaughtering operation is characterized by the ritualized requirements of the Muslim faith. The slaughtering operation is the primary source of capacity constraint. Dynamic Mapping identified that with a clear lack of formalized business improvement approaches that focus on improving the bottleneck constraint, additional demand will only serve to exacerbate the situation and create a serious threat to the economic viability of the company.Item Open Access A study of attitudes towards threat in the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence Commercial Function(British Academy of Management, 2017-09-07) Allen, Robert Anthony; White, Gareth R. T.Against a background of continuing change and increasing pressures public sector procurement staff are being required to do more with less. The aim of this study was to establish whether Ministry of Defence Commercial Officers sense that they are under threat and assess what those primary sources of threat are. Data was acquired through in-depth interviews with procurement practitioners from two key Ministry of Defence sites at Bristol and Corsham in the South West of England. The study finds that threat is perceived to exist and categorises them as internal (self, FDRS, line management and reputation) and external (Budgetary, legislative, policy/political pressure and risk). These threats are shown to negatively affect behaviour and the efficient running of the procurement function. Access to the MOD commercial function is necessarily restricted to those outside of the organisation and the data and findings presented in this study are therefore an important contribution to our knowledge of the internal workings of the Department and the procurement personnel within it.Item Open Access University-Industry collaboration through Knowledge Transfer Partnerships in the UK: an extension of Activity Theory(The International Journal of Management, 2019-10-31) White, Gareth R. T.; Abdullah, Ahmed; Cicmil, Svetlana; Allen, Robert Anthony; Thomas, RobertThe mechanisms for stimulating innovation are perennial subjects of concern. Despite the recognition of their importance they remain troublesome undertakings for individual organisations and national economies. The literature has only recently begun to recognise the importance of the micro-relations that exist between individuals and their effect upon the efficacy of these mechanisms. However, the intricacies of these micro-relationships remain underexplored. Through an extended period of immersion of around two years in each of three organisations this study identifies the nature of the tensions that beset the micro-relations between individuals in Knowledge Transfer Partnerships in the United Kingdom. The research proffers an extension to the Activity Framework in order to explicitly recognise the dimension of ‘Tacit Skills’.