Abstract

We investigate whether accounting information system quality has an impact on the level and efficiency of firms’ investments. While firms’ growth depends on investment and financing decisions, accounting information is fundamental for the decision-making of several stakeholders. We assess the accounting information system quality by discretionary accruals, whereas the investment inefficiency is estimated by the residuals of an investment regression for a sample of 3073 Portuguese SMEs from 27 industries, over the period from 2016 to 2021 using a panel regression analysis. The empirical evidence suggests that firms exhibiting higher accounting information system quality tend to invest more. In addition, firms with a lower accounting information system quality have more inefficient investments, as they tend to engage in more overinvestment, although this is not significant for underinvestment. Therefore, this study provides new evidence regarding the impact of accounting information systems on investment that may be useful for several stakeholders, such as managers, creditors, regulators, and academics, by providing evidence for SMEs, where empirical studies are scarce.

Introduction

Accounting information system quality is essential to accurately communicate the current and expected financial/economic position of firms. Financial statements are the main source of information for stakeholders to make decisions (Francis et al. 2004; Yuan et al. 2022). Therefore, it is essential that the information disclosed is transparent and reflects the true and fair view of the firm. Bhattacharya et al. (2013) for the United States and Cerqueira and Pereira (2015) for Europe find empirical evidence that the quality of accounting information contributes to mitigating information asymmetry which in turn means a reduction in the cost of raising funds. Therefore, prior literature has investigated factors that may lead to activities that degrade accounting information system quality, aiming at creating mechanisms to mitigate those activities, thereby improving accounting information system quality. However, Jones (1991) argues that these activities are not easy to detect.

In the context of agency theory and stakeholder theory, the decision-making of investors and creditors depends on the quality of the accounting information system, as mentioned by McNichols and Stubben (2008) and Biddle and Hilary (2006). In the case of investment, it is a fundamental factor for the sustainability and growth of firms, which implies attracting investors and/or obtaining funding from banks. Firms have assets available to develop their economic activities due to their investment ability, affecting their intrinsic value. In addition, Alkafaji et al. (2023) emphasize that investment in information technology tends to reduce the cost of producing accounting information and increases its reliability. The efficiency of a firm’s investment directly affects its survival and development and, in macroeconomic terms, the allocation of resources in society. However, investment inefficiency is usually observed in most firms, specifically overinvestment or underinvestment. Therefore, Ma and Jeong (2022) argue that it is necessary to promote the efficiency of firms’ investment. In the same vein, Gaio et al. (2023) and Lambert et al. (2007) suggest that the increase in the quality of financial reports leads to relevant economic implications in firms, such as the efficiency of investments made. Moreover, Pereira et al. (2023a) find empirical evidence that Portuguese small and medium entities (SMEs) with higher levels of investment tend to have a more conservative accounting practice to capture investors’ confidence.

Conclusions

This study analyzes the effect of accounting information system quality on the investment level and investment efficiency of Portuguese SMEs. From the empirical evidence obtained in this study, it is possible to conclude that firms with a higher accounting information system quality have a greater tendency to invest. This can be explained by the fact that these firms with a higher accounting information system quality exhibit more reliable and transparent financial statements, so they convey greater confidence to investors and banks, and it is possible to attract more financing that can be subsequently allocated to investment in fixed assets.

To further develop the analysis, the association of accounting information system quality with investment (in)efficiency is analyzed. The results suggest that a lower accounting information system quality enhances the trend of overinvestment. In this sense, managers tend to report a better financial performance to capture more funds for financing investments. Therefore, if the financial statements do not report the true and fair view of the firms, managers may fall into the error of overinvestment, namely in projects with a negative NPV, which in turn may lead to a waste of resources and affect the survival and growth of the firms. Regarding the underinvestment, the lower quality the accounting information system, the lower the tendency for underinvestment. This result is the opposite to Linhares et al. (2018) and Verdi (2006) and may be explained by the fact that even if financial statements give the true situation, shareholders may not invest, even with positive NPV opportunities, if the indebtedness level is high, as it would imply that most of the benefits would be captured by the creditors (Pereira et al. 2023a).

Abstract

Keywords

1. Introduction

2. Methodology

3. Findings

4. Dominant themes in literature

5. Discussion

6. Conclusion

Acknowledgment

Appendix A. Review paper’s references

References

Abstract

The importance of text mining is increasing in services management as the access to big data is increasing across digital platforms enabling such services. This study adopts a systematic literature review on the application of text mining in services management. First, we analyzed the literature on which has used text mining methods like Sentiment Analysis, Topic Modeling, and Natural language Processing (NLP) in reputed business management journals. Further, we applied visualization tools for text mining and the topic association to understand the dominant themes and relationships. The analysis highlighted that social media analysis, market analysis, competitive intelligence are the most dominant themes while other themes like risk management and fake content detection are also explored. Further, based on the analysis, future research agenda in the field of text mining in services management has been indicated.

1. Introduction

An immense amount of digitized texts is available on the online platform in newspaper content, social media posts, customers’ reviews on products and their experiences, scientific articles, and press releases. From some time back, scholars from management have started utilizing the power of text mining in various fields for theory building (Kar and Dwivedi, 2020). In fact, inclination towards digital transformation of industries has increased the quality and volume of unstructured data. This ample amount of unstructured data is now available for the researchers for analysis using big data analytics methodology, of which text mining is an integral part. Methods for theory building is gaining traction which uses text analytics on these large unstructured data (Kar and Dwivedi, 2020).

Further, the Internet’s immense growth allows users to share and search for ideas, opinions, and recommendations. Social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook play an important role in direct and indirect communication among users (Chandler et al., 2018). Besides, this massive amount of data available on social media platforms opens a new opportunity for the researchers and market professionals to analyze the status of the product in the market and help to make strategic plans for the growth of products and services as well (Shirdastian et al., 2017). The number of Internet users, as well as social media users, is growing day by day. Therefore, users create vast amounts of data in texts, videos, images, and audios on social media platforms. In addition, data on social media is freely available to users. Therefore, users can extract huge amounts of data from social media platforms in a concise duration. Here, the text mining technique is applied to social media data for many purposes like marketing (AlAlwan et al., 2017), product planning (Jeong et al., 2017), and digital marketing (Aswani et al., 2018). Online platforms like Yelp and TripAdvisor provide a platform for the customers or consumers to contribute fair feedback and explicit opinions to service providers. Therefore, online reviews are a reliable and free source of consumers’ or customer’s feedback in this digital environment (Dellarocas, 2003). In addition, online reviews or recommendations inspire customers or consumers to purchase or re-purchase the services because they strongly believe that feedbacks or recommendations given by their social networks are more reliable than that from unknown people (Filieri et al., 2015). Thus, online reviews on these platforms play an essential role in the decision-making process of customers or consumers and leave an effect on online or offline sales of the product (Cui et al., 2020; Chevalier and Mayzlin, 2006). Nowadays, industries, suppliers (Pani and Kar, 2011), buyers, and service providers continuously analyze the market to know the product’s status among the consumers or customers to maintain the position in this competitive environment (Takata, 2016).

1- Introduction

2- Literature review

3- Methodology

4- Results

5- Discussion

References

Abstract

This research focuses on the study of the impact of the HRIS’ use in human resources department (HR) on individual innovation capability. A research model was proposed and the related hypotheses were tested within human resources department of Tunisian companies with 42 respondents. Results estimated by Smart PLS software, showed that HRIS usage enhances individual innovation capability of Tunisian HR employees. Moreover, it has been found that employees’ affective commitment moderates the relationship between HRIS usage and individual innovation capability. In fact, more the employees are engaged affectively to their organization more the HRIS impact is positive and noteworthy on individual innovation behavior of HR staff. The study allows clarifying some lines which are responsible of improving individual creativity.

Introduction

The international environment has grown uncertain and become difficultto predict. Since January 14th 2011, Tunisia’s postrevolution environmentinduced Tunisian companies into changing their working methods and adapting themselves to an increasingly more and more competitive and uncertain environment (Ben Moussa, 2018). Accordingly, to survive and remain competitive, companies should have an information system able to make available reliable and consistent information on all the company’s activities. Itis information that now guides decision-making because it generates knowledge within the organization and as such it is essential for the continuity of the company’s activities. With the classic (non-integrated) information systems, companies find it difficult to manage a large amount of information coming from their different partners. This has forced companies all over the world to gear towards the adoption of information systems able to integrate data on all of the company’s activities (Markus, Axline, Petrie, & Tanis, 2000). These systems provide a knowledge platform that allows users to share information from different sectors such as manufacturing, finance, human resources, etc. (Davenport, 1998; Purvis, Sambamurthy, & Zmud, 2001). These systems are able to support decision-making and provide competitive advantages to the organization (Shao, Feng, & Liu, 2012; Wu & Wang, 2007). Similarly, Tunisian SMEs aremovingmore andmore towards the adoption of new information systems like Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP).

1- Introduction

2- Theoretical background

3- Corporate Environmental Profile Methodology (CEPM)

4- Empirical analysis

5- Discussion

6- Conclusion

References

Abstract

The environmental dimension of corporate sustainability is a key factor in firms’ success and viability. This implies that firms put emphasis on resource conservation strategies in order to protect their financial position. In recent years, the environmental aspects of firms have been examined with respect to their corporate environmental profile. This paper proposes a new approach for assessing the corporate environmental profile in light of environmental management practices, the environmental performance and reporting practices. To do so, a flexible benchmarking–scoring methodology was developed. It is based on a set of well-defined indexes and environmental indicators proposed by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) in order to assess information published in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reports. A sample of firms was used to test the proposed methodology so as to highlight its advantages and disadvantages.

Introduction

Environmental information is very useful for helping firms develop essential tools to improve communication with stakeholders as well as to face potential future risks and exploit possible new opportunities (Larrinaga-González et al., 2001; De Beer and Friend, 2006). Many theories (e.g. the stakeholder theory, the resource-based theory, the knowledge-based theory) and also accounting literature (the legitimacy theory and accountability theory) (Russo and Fouts, 1997; O’Donovan, 2002; Nikolaou, 2017) have been used to explain the efforts of businesses to improve their environmental profile through strategic management. Recently, many firms want to make progress on improving their environmental profile mainly as a response to the regulatory regime (i.e. the reactive approach) or as a strategy on a voluntary basis, in order to meet stakeholder needs (i.e. the proactive approach) (Alvarez, 2019). Moreover, literature provides evidence that benefits from improvements in a corporate environmental profile are different across sectors. Specifically, the mining and chemical industries gain “the social licence to operate” (Moffat and Zhang, 2014), while the food and beverage industry seeks a competitive advantage (Maloni and Brown, 2006). The credit sector mainly aims to eliminate potential transfer of financial risks to lending procedures due to firms’ environmental failures (Coulson and Monks, 1999).

1- Introduction

2- Theoretical background

3- Model and hypotheses

4- Materials and methods

5- Results

6- Discussion

References

Abstract

Value co-creation for service innovations involves integrating inputs from multiple actors within service ecosystems. Traditionally, value co-creation has been considered in light of business-to-consumer (B2C) interactions. The emergence of digital information platforms allowing consumer-to-consumer (C2C) communications is changing how service ecosystems establish and create value for service innovations. In this paper, we develop a Digital Information Flow Continuum that includes B2C, external provider and consumer co-created (B2C/C2C combined) and C2C digital communications. Using Service-Dominant Logic (SDL), we assess the impact digital information flow elements have on the perceptions and usage likelihood for telemedicine (TM) services. We use structural equation modeling to analyze online survey results from 827 health consumers collected as part of a healthcare organization’s TM launch. The results demonstrate that the Digital Information Flow Continuum impacts the acceptance of the TM innovation directly, and indirectly through value perceptions of comparable service quality relative to alternatives and ease of access to care.

Introduction

Value enhancing innovations have the potential to positively or negatively impact service ecosystems (Dedehayir, Ortt, & Seppänen, 2017; Reinhardt & Gurtner, 2018). Academic researchers are particularly interested in innovations that focus on digital services (Larivière et al., 2017), and especially those that have the potential to transform service delivery via new processes, technologies, and deliverables (Chandler, Danatzis, Wernicke, Akaka, & Reynolds, 2019). Digital information and digital service delivery represent the use of online resources and platforms available to learn about and utilize innovations (i.e., Internet, social media, apps, etc.). For example, researchers have investigated digital service delivery in mobile banking (Payne, Peltier, & Barger, 2018) and digital health (Dahl, Milne, & Peltier, 2019). A common thread across this evolving research stream is that technologybased innovations impact how employees interface with customers and the extent to which consumers benefit from these digital service encounters (Larivière et al., 2017). Marketing communications are critical to the launch, acceptance, and adoption of innovations within service ecosystems (Alexander, Jaakkola, & Hollebeck, 2018). Although business-to-consumer (B2C) communications play a key role in the adoption process, marketers are going beyond B2C information flows and dyadic relationships, to digital marketing platforms that allow consumers to create and share information amongst themselves, thereby co-creating value for a service innovation (Chandler & Vargo, 2011). Service experiences have thus transitioned from pure “one-to-one” communication and engagement processes to “many-to-many” informational touchpoints (Vargo & Lusch, 2016). Framed through the lens of Service-Dominant Logic (SDL) (Vargo & Lusch, 2017), actors within service ecosystems co-create value for innovations through the sharing of unique experiences with and perceptions of the innovation. Despite this interest, research is limited on how B2C and consumer-to-consumer (C2C) information flows impact the acceptance and adoption of service innovations (Gruner, Vomber, Homburg, & Lukas, 2019). Although the literature has begun to investigate interaction mechanisms needed to support value cocreation in service ecosystems, the role of communication integration is not well understood. Virtually silent is research showing how different digital formats and platforms along an information flow continuum from B2C to C2C impact consumers’ perceptions of service innovations and adoption likelihood (Dahl et al., 2019; Kim & Baker, 2017).

1- Introduction

2- Literature review

3- Institutional background and hypothesis

4- Research design

5- Empirical results

6- Further analysis

7- Discussion and conclusions

References

Abstract

This study investigates the differences between zombie firms and non-zombie firms in corporate social responsibility activities such as reporting, disclosure and fulfillment. Using Chinese listing company data collected from 2009 to 2016, we apply a three stage model with a double Heckman correction to deal with potential self-selection/endogeneity bias and to measure the differences consistently. We found that zombie firms are less willing to release standalone corporate social responsibility reports than non-zombie firms. Among companies that release standalone corporate social responsibility reports, the corporate social responsibility disclosure of zombie firms is at least not worse than non-zombie firms, but the corporate social responsibility fulfillment is significantly lower. We conclude from this gap between disclosure and fulfillment to the hypocritical behavior of zombie firms, due to the absence of control in corporate social responsibility. We suggest that government should enhance supervision over zombie firms’ corporate social responsibility activities and subsidies towards them in order to lower their economic damage. Supplementary analyses provide some clues concerning the heterogeneity of inconsistence in term of external support characteristics, ownership and censorship which require further studies.

Introduction

“Zombie firm” refers to companies that should go bankrupt because of low efficiency and unprofitability but still survive thanks to external support of government or bank sector (Kane, 1987). Zombie firms pose potentially very high threats to the economy as a whole, not only because of being inefficient and sluggish, but also due to the “spillover effect” as they distort market rules and undermine the competitiveness and innovation of the non-zombie firms (Caballero et al., 2008; Urionabarrenetxea et al., 2018). Despite their negative economic impact, the Chinese government, especially local governments, still help zombie firms because they “believe” that zombie firms take corporate social responsibilities (CSR), such as employment, social security, environmental protection, etc. (Banerjee and Hofmann, 2018; Caballero et al., 2008; Fukuda and Nakamura, 2011; Han et al., 2019; Kwon et al., 2015; Tan et al., 2016). The purpose of this paper is to answer the key question: do zombie firms really take adequate “social responsibilities” as expected? Although a large number of studies have shown that participation in CSR activities can bring economic benefits to the firm, such returns are often of a long-term and uncertain nature (Nikolaeva and Bicho, 2011), and they might be perceived differently by zombie and non-zombie firms. Given the special characteristics of zombie firms and the Chinese economic/institution background, we are firstly interested in their CSR reports release behavior as compared to non-zombie firms. Moreover, CSR activities can be separated into CSR fulfillment (CSRF) and CSR disclosure (CSRD). Compared to CSRD activities, CSRF requires much more resources, so that image manipulation (CSRD) is much easier than actual fulfillment (Thorne et al., 2014). In the literature (Fassin and Buelens, 2011; Jahdi and Acikdilli, 2009), the gap between CSRD and CSRF is often qualified as hypocrisy. Because CSRD does not contain financial information and does actually lack strict supervision, zombie firms should have stronger incentive to play hypocrisy than other firms in order to keep their external support.

1- Introduction

2- Theoretical framework and hypotheses

3- Research method

4- Analysis and results

5- Conclusions

References

Abstract

In the service encounter, the employee must often encourage customer self-disclosure (i.e., revealing of personal information) to be able to match the customer’s needs with what the firm has to offer. This study uses an experimental approach to manipulate employee encouragement of self-disclosure (low vs. high) to explore its impact on the customer. It was found that encouraging self-disclosure enhanced customer perceptions of customization, employee effort, own effort, privacy concerns, and employee humanness, and that these responses influenced customer satisfaction. In addition, because many firms are beginning to replace human employees with various forms of virtual agents (and it has been argued that we humans may find it less threatening to self-disclose to such agents), the identity of the employee (virtual agent vs. human employee) was manipulated, too. The identity factor, however, did not influence customers’ responses.

Introduction

This study examines the service encounter from an information exchange point of view. Such an exchange is required if firms want to adapt their offers to the needs of the customers, and both parties in the encounter – the frontline employee and the customer – have to contribute to the exchange. That is to say, the employee must identify the customer’s needs, typically by asking questions to the customer, and the customer has to respond by providing information about his or her needs. This means that the service encounter resembles a therapy setting, in the sense that successful therapy is contingent on clients’ transfer of information about themselves to therapists (Chaikin and Derlega, 1974; Cozby, 1973; Lucas et al., 2014). Here, in the present study, the customer–employee exchange is examined through the lens of customer self-disclosure (i.e., the revealing of personal information to another person; Derlega and Chaikin, 1977; Mothersbaugh et al., 2012, Ruppel et al., 2016). Previous research on self-disclosure indicates that it may be a causally potent activity also in service encounters –particularly with respect to the customer’s overall evaluation of the encounter in terms of customer satisfaction. It has been shown, for example, that self-disclosure to an interaction partner can increase the discloser’s liking of the person who receives the self-disclosure (Berg and Archer, 1983). If this happens also in a service encounter, when the employee is the receiver of the customer’s self-disclosure, one would expect increased liking of the employee. Given that the employee typically is the company from the customer’s point of view in a service setting (Bitner et al., 1990), one would also expect that increased liking of the employee can boost overall customer satisfaction. Moreover, self-disclosure can enhance self-affirmation and sense of worth (Ho et al., 2018), and such positive outcomes may carry over to service encounter satisfaction in a valence-congruent way. However, self-disclosure can also be negatively charged. To self-disclose, it has been argued, can make the discloser feel vulnerable (Derlega and Chaikin, 1977), and it can be associated with perceptions of physical harm, material damage (Moon, 2000), risks of being victimized (Robinson, 2017), exploitation, and loss of independence (Derlega and Chaikin, 1977). These negative aspects indicate that encouraging the customer to self-disclose may have the potential to reduce customer satisfaction in a service encounter setting.

1- Introduction

2- Background and related work

3- Current study

4- Method

5- Results

6- Discussion

References

Abstract

The relationship between security culture and Information Security Awareness (ISA) has received preliminary support; however, its interplay with organisational culture is yet to be empirically investigated. Therefore, this study explored the relationship between ISA, organisational culture, and security culture. A total of 508 working Australians completed an online questionnaire. ISA was measured using the Human Aspects of Information Security Questionnaire (HAIS-Q); organisational culture was measured using the Denison Organisational Culture Survey (DOCS); and security culture was assessed through the Organisational Security Culture Measure. Our results showed that while organisational culture and security culture were correlated with ISA, security culture played an important mediating relationship between organisational culture and ISA. This suggests that organisations should focus on security culture rather than organisational culture to improve ISA, saving time and resources. Future research could further extend current findings by also considering national culture.

Introduction

Human behaviour is largely determined by culture, affecting interactions in everyday social and work environments (Cronk and Salmon, 2017). Therefore, when attempting to understand and shape human behaviour, looking at an individual in isolation is problematic. It is also important to consider the group, the broader social and organisational systems, and their interactions (Tessem and Skaraas, 2005). This is important for information security, as people play a significant role in not only creating risks, but also preventing security breaches. In an organisational context, the primary cause of human error is non-compliance, or nonmalicious unawareness, rather than malicious intent (Parsons et al., 2014). Traditionally, information security has focused on technical solutions, and measures to mitigate risks. However, the importance of the human factor has become increasingly recognised, and it has been well established that technical solutions in isolation cannot sufficiently mitigate security breaches (e.g., Furnell and Clarke, 2012). The role of the human is crucial with humans being the weakest link in information security (Parsons et al., 2017; von Solms and van Niekerk, 2010).

1- Introduction

2- Literature review and development of hypotheses

3- Research method

4- Data analysis

5- Discussion

References

Abstract

With the prevalence of Internet, social media has become an important means for online marketing events. Individuals and companies both create fan pages on online platforms and develop business opportunities using social media. While many past studies have investigated social media, few have mentioned the effects of social media marketing activities. This study proposed the effects of social media marketing activities on continuance intention, participation intention and purchase intention via the mediation of social identification, perceived value, and satisfaction. To empirically test the effects of social media marketing activities, this study conducted an online survey on 502 social media users for data analysis. The analytical results indicated that social media marketing activities indirectly affect satisfaction through social identification and perceived value. At the same time, social identification and perceived value directly affect satisfaction that then influences continuance intention, participation intention and purchase intention. Finally, the academic and management implications based on the empirical results of this study are provided as references for the improvement of social media marketing.

Introduction

The rise of social media has reflected people’s need for interpersonal interactions. Social networking sites have brought social activities into the online virtual world. For example, the real-time texting facilitates information sharing and online social contacts among people. This phenomenon suggests companies use social media as an important part of their online marketing strategies. Social media marketing is defined as commercial marketing events or processes that use social media in an attempt to positively influence consumers’ purchase behavior (Dann, 2010). In the face of the rapid rise of virtual community websites, many companies have already begun to think about how to rely on such sites to deepen their communications and interactions with users in order to build a sense of close and friendly relations and form virtual brand communities (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010; Chen et al., 2014). As the Internet has developed different forms of media and applications over time, it has changed the traditional human interactions of the past and also created new bridges for communication. With the popularity of Internet and mobile technologies and the widespread reliance on online social media brand preferences, the sharing of consumer experiences and brand information has become a new field of brand marketing. Therefore, the development of social groups has become more efficient. Even among group members who have never met each other, a good sense of community can take shape. Communities that collect goods and services of a specific brand are called virtual brand communities. Prahalad and Ramaswamy (2004) suggested that consumers are not only interested in making product purchases; rather, they also want to create experiences with other consumers or experts. Therefore, participation in online communities can lead to a high degree of cohesion among consumers, thereby affecting the market.

1- INTRODUCTION

2- SOCIAL MEDIA AND ITS CONSEQUENCES

3- SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE POLICE MANAGEMENT OF VISIBILITY

4- THE PUBLIC’S USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA: COUNTERSURVEILLANCE AND NETWORKED PUBLICS

5- DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

REFERENCES

Abstract

Studies of social media’s impact on policing have emerged in several disciplines, including criminology, sociology, and communications. Despite their insight, there is no unified body of knowledge regarding this relationship. In an attempt to synthesize extant work, bring coherence to the field, and orient future scholarship, this article summarizes research on social media’s implications for practices and perceptions of order maintenance. It does so by identifying how social media’s technical affordances empower and constrain police services. By offering new opportunities for surveillance, risk communication, and impression management, emergent technologies augment the police’s control of their public visibility and that of the social world. However, they also provide unprecedented capacities to monitor the police and expose, circulate, and mobilize around perceived injustice, whether brutality, racial profiling, or other forms of indiscretion. Considering these issues promises to enhance knowledge on contemporary directions in social control, organizational communication, inequality, and collective action. Suggestions for future research are also explored.

INTRODUCTION

If control of information and visibility are decisive sources of power (Brighenti, 2007; Castells, 2013), the significance of social media—the most recent innovation in mediated communication—is difficult to overstate. Its accessibility, ease‐of‐ use, and participatory, networked character are transforming state‐society relations, dynamics distinctly conspicuous for order maintenance, the sovereign state’s prerogative power. Over the past decade, scholars in several disciplines have analyzed social media’s effects on policing. Despite their contribution, knowledge remains incipient and fragmentary. In an effort to bring coherence to existing work, this article assesses research on social media’s implications for policing’s operational and symbolic contours. While police services have leveraged visible digital spaces to communicate with citizens, sculpt their public image, and augment enforcement, they also allow citizens to expose, discuss, and mobilize around perceived injustice. Accordingly, new media environments are sites of considerable struggle over policing’s character, image, and meanings. After identifying its essential features and societal implications, this paper presents a typology of social media use, distinguishing between law enforcement’s status as monitors, producers, and objects of online content. In reducing the opacity of everyday life, social media are indispensable tools of surveillance and intelligence gathering. Police services have also appropriated multi‐media platforms as instruments of organizational communication, disseminating content to cultivate community support and enlist citizens in the management of crime, risk, and disorder. Finally, it considers how social media produce a “crisis of visibility” (Haggerty & Sandhu, 2014), unsettling law enforcement’s image and reputation. Specifically, it details how publics have utilized online forums to watch the powerful, expose abuse, and encourage institutional reform, oversight, and accountability. The paper concludes by discussing the import of these trends and suggesting future directions for research. Assessing emerging relations between law, society, and technology advances ongoing debates, providing new insights into patterns of social control, stratification, and collective action.

A Closer Look at SAP

Implementing an ERP-Driven Design

Case Study: Nestlé USA Installs SAP

Using BPMS to Improve ERP Installations

Enterprise Resource Planning and Business Process Management Suite

Notes and References

Introduction

Social media

How we use it

Authors’ impressions of major platforms as they apply to facial plastic surgery

What patients want

Is it worth it?

#Hashtag

Potential pitfalls

Summary

References

KEY POINTS

Social media is quickly becoming one of the main avenues for direct to consumer marketing.
Patients use social media to find surgeons and to communicate about procedures, outcomes, and their experiences.
A surgeon’s social media presence can dramatically increase their perception of being an expert and showcase to patients their style and approach.
There is no single best social network, instead various networks exist with unique characteristics that each have the potential to drive traffic to a practice.
Social media can be potentially hazardous for patients and surgeons if misused.

INTRODUCTION

As patients incorporate social media into their daily routine, physicians are increasingly investigating ways of harnessing this burgeoning market of interactive media. Plastic surgeons are apt to embrace innovation and emerging technologies, and they are now helping to define the interaction between social media and medicine. Social media is a powerful tool that needs to be used wisely to avoid pitfalls.

Background

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion

References

Abstract

Background: Community based providers are well place to deliver behavioural interventions to improve health. Good project management and reliable outcome data are needed to efficiently deliver and evaluate such interventions, and Management information systems (MIS) can facilitate these processes. We explored stakeholders perspectives on the use of MIS in community based behavioural interventions. Methods: Stakeholders, purposively selected to provide a range of MIS experience in the delivery of community based behavioural interventions to improve health (public health commissioners, intervention service managers, project officers, health researchers and MIS designers), were invited to participate in individual semi-structured interviews. We used a topic guide and encouraged stakeholders to reflect on their experiences.: Interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed using five steps of Framework analysis. We applied an agreed coding framework and completed the interviews when no new themes emerged. Results: We interviewed 15 stakeholders. Key themes identified were: (i) MIS access; (ii) data and its function; (iii) MIS development and updating. Within these themes the different experiences, needs, use, training and expertise of stakeholders and the variation and potential of MIS were evidenced. Interviews advised the need to involve stakeholders in MIS design and development, build-in flexibility to accommodate MIS refinement and build on effective MIS. Conclusions: Findings advised involving stakeholders, early in the design process. Designs should build on existing MIS of proven utility and ensure flexibility in the design, to incorporate adaptations and ongoing system development in response to early MIS use and evolving stakeholder needs.

Background

The National Health Service (NHS) Five Year Forward View [1] emphasised the importance of disease prevention and outlined how behavioural interventions can support people to make healthy behaviour choices to improve their health and prevent disease [2]. It is recognised that good project management with reliable outcome data are needed to provide information for policy makers [2] and modern information technology, including access to web-based hosting, can facilitate good administration and robust data collection through well-designed MIS Voluntary and community sector organisations are well place to deliver behavioural health interventions, but [2] good MIS may be difficult to achieve where intervention providers are working on a small scale or to a tight budget. The design and implementation of health information systems goes beyond the technical aspects [3] of the system and can incur, “unforeseen costs, unfulfilled promises, and disillusionment (Anderson & Aydin 2005, page vii)” [4]. In one conceptual model the technical aspects, design and implementation consequences of a management information system (MIS) are assumed to be within the control of a single organisation, with MIS design responsive to the information needs of that organisation and its management [4].