1,720,956 research outputs found
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Residents' awareness and support of tourism for strategic management purposes in Mahikeng
Full text linkMCom (Management), North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2015Tourism is recognised as a means of boosting the national and regional economy. Increasingly destinations, and specifically cities, are turning to tourism as an important element in their economic portfolio. The Provincial Government of the North West province in South Africa considers tourism as an important sector that can contribute towards the economic growth, and for achieving broader social goals. One of the challenges tourism is facing is that governments and other role players do not always provide sufficient investment for the potential development of tourism and this then results in only marginal resources being assigned to tourism as an economic sector. Achieving competitive advantage in times of rapid change requires tourism to gather information and develop a clear understanding of the direction in developing tourism and its implications for a particular destination. Since tourism is intertwined with other economic sectors, tourism trends should ideally not be considered in isolation from the key drivers that shape South Africa's economic future. The main purpose of the study was establishing residents' (1) awareness and their (2) propensity to support tourism in Mahikeng. The reason for this is that a resident of a particular region or city forms a key factor contributing towards the development of a lucrative and prosperous tourism industry. This has enabled the researcher to gather insights and reasonable findings with regard to the level of residents' awareness and their likeliness to support tourism in Mahikeng. Consumer information, such as residents' awareness and support for tourism, is indispensable for strategic management purposes and contributes towards sustainable tourism development in Mahikeng. A total number of 365 questionnaires were distributed among residents of which 303 were completed and used. Questionnaires were distributed at residents' residential places and selected public areas. Data retrieved from the questionnaire were used and captured in the form of figures and tables. The main variables in this study were gender, age group, marital status, level of employment, occupational status, number of years residing in Mahikeng, and the number of times residents have visited tourism attractions
in Mahikeng for the last 2 years. The result obtained can contribute towards the strategic planning and management of the North West Parks and Tourism Board (NWP&TB) and also towards stakeholders formulating strategies to grow and develop tourism in Mahikeng. Suggestions from the respondents were that those responsible for destination marketing should increase marketing efforts with the objective of raising the level of awareness amongst residents as that will prompt more support for tourism facilities. The development of sustainable tourism is difficult without the support and participation of local residents. Thus, the support of residents is a critical factor for ongoing development.Master
Strategic management of tourism stakeholder relations : Bakgatla-ba-Kgafela
Full text linkPhD (Business Management), North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2019Strategically developed tourism will ultimately contribute towards the economic prosperity of not only regions or areas but also to the prosperity of a local populace, as well as to the attractiveness of a region or area in its entirety. Sustainable tourism development, particularly in a rural region , is seen as a vehicle for regional development in a developing country as it contributes towards eliminating regional disparities in particular between metropolitan centres and remote areas. Therefore, rural tourism has a major role to play in the rural environment, such as: job creation, farm diversification (tourism activities inside a farm), promotion of local
crafts, foods and drinks, destination stewardship, and also community cohesion . Indeed, rural tourism complements a diverse economy and links other sectors (such as agriculture and mining) and preseNes the natural resources and culture of a community. Rural tourism if strategically developed and managed can make a substantial positive contribution towards the prosperity of the rural community. One of the most important tasks during strategy formulation is the management of the interface between the many (often competing) demands of an organisation 's different stakeholders in relation to its strategic goals, and this also applies to the strategic management of tourism. The focus of this study is on the strategic management of tourism stakeholder relations in a rural setting and how it ought to be integrated into the economic, social, cultural, and local structure of a local community, specifically that of the Bakgatla-ba-Kgafela (BBK) in the North West
province of South Africa. The strategic management of stakeholder relations within a rural tourism development context is very important to enhance the rural collective economy of a region , beautifying the rural appearance, strengthening the rural civilisation construction, increasing the income level of community members, reducing the urban-rural gap, and building a cohesive and harmonious community. The primary objective of the study was to develop a strategic management framework for the community-group as stakeholders in pursuit of sustainable development of tourism, in particular for the rural area. Therefore, the framework was proposed after the collection of data from the respondents about their viewpoints on tourism in the BBK community and the level of importance placed on members of the community-group as stakeholders in the tourism development process. The successful formulation and implementation of a strategic plan at local level require a comprehensive and developmental approach which depends on effective
cooperation between the Bakgatla-ba-Kgafela Traditional Authority (BBKTA), the local government - (the Moses Kotane Local Municipality (MKLM)), and the community-group. The members of the community-groups' viewpoints on tourism seNed as inputs for the strategic planning and formulation phase and that will contribute in the effective implementation of plans due to the support for tourism activities and programmes. This study analysed the perception of tourism experts on the state of tourism development in the BBK community and the viewpoint of members of the community-group on tourism using a mixed method design. Tourism experts were interviewed and members of the community-group participated in a survey study. The survey was conducted in four villages near the BBKTA's administration offices based in Moruleng. The quantitative data findings revealed that a somewhat low percentage of 39.0% of respondents mentioned that they do benefit from tourism and an overwhelming majority of 61.0% of the respondents stated that the community was not benefitting from tourism. What was very concerning from the result is that the majority of the respondents highlighted that they were not benefiting from tourism in the BBK community. Furthermore, the study indicated that a fairly high percentage of respondents (27 .50%) were unemployed. The qualitative research findings
revealed that a lack of stakeholder synergy and collaboration had hindered the effective planning for the sustainable development of rural tourism in the BBK community. In addition, bureaucracy from government has been mentioned as hindering the implementation of formulated strategies. The consultation , involvement and participation of tourism stakeholders in the decision-making phase of the tourism development process will undoubtedly assist in the effective implementation phase of projects without delays and disruptions from disgruntled individuals and parties, in particular the community-group. The data triangulation section clearly highlighted that in some instances there are areas of agreements and divergence in terms of the findings from both the qualitative and the quantitative sets of data. For example, there was a divergence of findings when it came to the current state of tourism development in the BBK community.Doctora
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Residents' awareness and support of tourism in Mahikeng, South Africa
Full text linkTourism is recognised as a means of boosting the national and regional economy and increasingly destinations, and specifically cities, are turning to tourism as an important element in their economic portfolio. The Provincial Government of the North West province in South Africa considers tourism as an important sector that can contribute towards economic growth, and for achieving broader social goals. The main purpose of this study was to establishing residents' awareness and their propensity to support tourism in Mahikeng. The reason for this is that a resident of a particular region or city forms a key factor contributing towards the development of a lucrative and prosperous tourism industry. This has enabled the researcher to gather insights and reasonable findings with regard to the level of residents? awareness and their likeliness to support tourism in Mahikeng. Consumer information, such as residents' awareness and support for tourism, is indispensable for strategic management purposes and contributes towards sustainable tourism development in Mahikeng. The development of sustainable tourism would be difficult without the support and participation of local residents. Thus, the support of residents is a critical factor for ongoing development and sustainability
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Total quality management as a strategic tool in service delivery : a case of the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights, Mahikeng
Full text linkMCom (Business Management), North-West University, Mahikeng CampusThis study aims to examine whether total quality management as a strategic tool can be applied to improve service delivery to land claimants. The literature review indicated that TQM can be used to improve the quality of services rendered at the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights, and the satisfaction of land claimants determines the quality of service delivered to claimants.
The nature of the study was quantitative research with the positivism type of paradigm, and the deductive approach was also applied. Data was collected from land claimants with the aim of understanding their perception on how service can be enhanced at CRLR. Questionnaires were applied to collect primary data, books, government publications, journal articles, newspapers, the internet, Google Scholar, and policy documents were used for secondary data collection. Non-probability sampling, and a combination of the convenience and purposive sampling method was utilised for the study.
The literature review revealed that to enhance service quality, the CRLR should adopt TQM practices such as total employees’ involvement, customer focus, customer satisfaction, service quality, organisational culture, effective communication and team work. In addition, employees from top management level to lower management level are responsible for the success of TQM implementation at the organisation.
This study recommends that for effective and efficient quality performance, organisations should adopt the TQM systems and service quality dimensions for the sake of service improvement, which will lead to high level of claimants’ satisfaction. The research contributes to a better knowledge and understanding regarding the implementation of TQM as a strategic tool in public organisations rendering services to the community; in this regard, land claimants.Master
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