212 research outputs found
The gate-keeper networks of power, and symbolic capital: Gender exclusion in the Professional Service Firms (UK and Europe)
No full textThis thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonThe research aim is to explore, women managers’ lack legitimacy with senior management for allocation to CAE management positions and, how this damages women managers’ promotion opportunities for partner roles in the elite Professional Service Firms (PSFs). The conceptual frame utilises Bourdieu’s theories of cultural capital, habitus and field analysis (1991, 1989, 1986, 1984), to find the symbolic capital or legitimate competence (Ozbilgin and Tatli, 2011, 2005) which male-dominated partner gatekeepers within their networks of power use to confer candidates legitimacy for promotion. A core argument of this Doctorate is these gatekeepers’ informal networks reproduce existing gender inequalities (Acker, 2012, 2006, 2004) for partner promotion in the PSFs.
The study is multi-level (Layder, 2012, 1998, 1993) and relational (Ozbilgin and Vassilopoulou, 2018) covering macro, meso and micro levels, overcoming the duality between structure and agency (Ozbilgin and Tatli, 2011, 2005), and surfaces hidden gender inequalities. The research methods involves a combination of critical realist ontology (Bhasker, 1989), and a feminist epistemology for the research. The field study includes 76 qualitative semi-structured and, in-depth interviews of female and male partners, female and male middle managers in global PSFs. The study used multiple methods including secondary statistics, observations and memos (Layder, 1998, 1993) from the individual cases embedded within two in-depth cases-study organizations (Yin, 2012, 2003).
The research contribution identifies the competing logics which legitimise gender inequalities in the field. Additionally, cultural capitals especially symbolic capital valued by the gatekeepers in their networks of power, and how field logic(s) mitigate against women gain legitimacy for entry to the senior management field. To surface hidden informal practices used by gatekeepers which undermine women managers’ legitimacy for promotion, and persistent talent leakage are explored. Women who use their own agency to instigate SIE assignments can enhance their career capital portfolios in early and middle career stages but, this incorporates career capital gains and losses (Duberly and Cohen, 2010)
Gender as symbolic capital and symbolic violence in leadership: the context of Saudi leaders
No full textThis thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel UniversityWomen across many sectors have often found themselves disadvantaged when it came to assuming different managerial positions, with less opportunities in comparison with their male counterparts. This research aims to explore and investigate how leaders and managers as individuals hold positions of dominance in different business sectors can work under certain circumstances and challenging conditions; from experiencing life under rigid settings, to social peculiarities in the Saudi Arabian context. As such, these overlap with other aspects of social, legal, cultural, traditional, and psychological aspects, uncovering the hidden foundations of resources, procedures, authority, work paths and defects that lead to organisational outcomes and divide between genders. Bourdieu`s theory of symbolic capital and symbolic violence, is adopted in this study which would provide empirical support for this study.
The Bourdieusian— notion of symbolic capital and symbolic violence would provide a hypothetical foundation for this study’s exposure of the social and cultural dynamics which influences the gender experiences of business leader, both male and female. In addition, a conceptual framework was developed for identifying the various constructs and relationships between them (to be investigated and evaluated) in this study, which included leadership traits, social, cultural, legal, and personal factors. A qualitative interpretivist philosophical approach is adopted for achieving the research aim. Accordingly, semi-structured interviews with 33 participants (including both male and female) leaders in Saudi Arabia are conducted. The initial findings of this research have provided an understanding of Saudi leadership experiences in public and private sector. While government policy such as vision 2030 has been a widely used tool in developing and supporting the role of women in the workplace and positions of leadership, evidence in the research suggests that gender misrepresentation and inequality issues still exist in Saudi Arabia. While gender-specific issues in the workplace were believed to have applied only to women, men have equally had their experiences shaped by similar issues. This study confirms that male/female leaders continue to face several challenges preventing them from achieving equitable representation. Male leaders remain advantaged with access to a higher number of opportunities to help them in their careers, yet they are equally anxious about current competition conversely. The focus of this investigation would not be placed on the gender differences by themselves, but on the ways, these differences can influence organisational performance.
This study has both theoretical and practical implications. Firstly, it addressed the gaps in the literature, especially the application of western concept of gender equalities in conservative country of Saudi Arabia, by including the opinions of both male and female genders, and also consideration of social, cultural and legal factors of influence, which led to the interesting findings, reflecting the gendered inequalities greatly affecting women and partially affecting men due to the traditional practices at workplace. Secondly, this study has several practical contributions: presenting a comprehensive view on current practices at workplace in Saudi Arabian organizations reflecting the existence of gendered inequalities. Furthermore, this study formulated policy recommendations as well as recommendations for public and private sector organisations wishing to promote gender equality, making a strong practical contributio
Toxic Field and Illusio: a study of neocolonial hierarchies of knowledge in marketing
No full textWorking title: 'Toxic Field and Illusio: a study of neocolonial hierarchies of knowledge in marketing'.Copyright © The Author(s) 2022. We explore the knowledge production experiences of marketing academics who currently work in countries that have previously colonized their home countries. Building on Bourdieu’s concepts of illusio and the field, we first demonstrate that participants are drawn to the appeal of the academic game which perpetuates itself as a toxic field of neo-colonial relations. Second, we illustrate that two dominant exploitative academic practices sustain this toxic field. Third, we demonstrate that there is a toxic illusio which prevents academics from developing a healthy sense of colonial relations in their knowledge production
Challenging the assumptions of social entrepreneurship education and repositioning it for the future: Wonders of cultural, social, symbolic and economic capitals
No full textPurpose: Social entrepreneurship education (SEE) is gaining increasing attention globally. This paper aims to focus on how SEE may be better understood and reconfigured from a Bourdieusian capital perspective with an emphasis on the process of mobilising and transforming social entrepreneurs’ cultural, social, economic and symbolic resources. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on qualitative research with a sample of social entrepreneurship educators and mentors, the authors generate insights into the significance of challenging assumptions and establishing values and principles and hence that of developing a range of capitals (using the Bourdieusian notion of capital) for SEE. Findings: The findings highlight the significance of developing a range of capitals and their transformative power for SEE. In this way, learners can develop dispositions for certain forms of capitals over others and transform them to each other in becoming reflexive social agents. Originality/value: The authors respond to the calls for critical thinking in entrepreneurship education and contribute to the field by developing a reflexive approach to SEE. The authors also make recommendations to educators, who are tasked with implementing such an approach in pursuit of raising the next generations of social entrepreneurs
Comparison of the swimming performance of farmed and wild gilthead sea bream, Sparus aurata
No full textFarmed gilthead sea bream, Sparus aurata, frequently escape from the sea cages and interact with wild populations. The impact of these interactions on the wild populations will depend, in part, on differences in performance of the bream. This study compared the swimming performance of the wild and farmed fish in a current channel. The absolute critical swimming speed (U-crit) increased with increasing size while the relative U-crit decreased. Even at the same length there were noticeable performance differences between the individuals. The wild sea bream have significantly higher (P < 0.05) absolute U-crit performance (0.86 +/- 0.01 m s(-1)) than the farmed fish (0.79 +/- 0.01 m s(-1)) and significantly higher (P < 0.05) relative U-crit performance (4.52 +/- 0.05 BL s(-1)) than the farmed fish (4.21 +/- 0.05 BL s(-1)). The present study suggests that cultured sea bream may not have the ability to compete with wild sea bream in native seawaters
Effect of lordosis on the swimming performance of juvenile sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax L.)
No full textThe critical swimming speed (U-crit, cm s(-1)) value of normal juvenile sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) (64.7 +/- 6.33) was significantly higher than that of fish with lordosis (60.3 +/- 6.66) (P < 0.05). Both normal fish and those with lordosis showed increased endurance with increasing length during exercise at a fixed water velocity of 50 cm s(-1). This speed was used to investigate the separation possibility of deformed specimen from the normal developed fish based on their swimming performance, and 28% separation was achieved without losing any normal fish by the end of the 10th minute. To achieve a better separation of the deformities from the normal, first grading of the juveniles and then a swimming endurance test is advised
Effects of yeast culture addition (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) to Anatolian water buffalo diets on milk composition and somatic cell count
No full textIstraživanje je provedeno kako bi se utvrdio utjecaj dodatka Saccharomyces cerevisiae (SC) na unos suhe tvari obroka, količinu i sastav mlijeka te broj somatskih stanica u mlijeku anatolijskih vodenih bivolica (AWB). Pokusna skupina SC (n = 5 krava/ skupini) dobila je 30,0 g SC po kravi na dan. U usporedbi s kontrolnom skupinom, SC- skupina konzumirala je više ukupne suhe tvari (PThis study was carried out to determine the effect of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (SC) addition to dry matter intake, milk yield, milk composition and somatic cell count in Anatolian water buffalo diets (AWB). The SC-treated groups (n = 5 buffalo cow/group) received 30.0 g of SC per buffalo cow per day. Compared to the control group, the SC-treated group consumed more total dry matter (
Solving stochastic OLG models using Chebyshev parameterized expectations
No full textThis paper presents an efficient solution method for solving stochastic overlapping generations (S-OLG) models. We use the Chebyshev parameterized expectation algorithm (C-PEA) developed by Christiano and Fisher (2000) to solve the life cycle block of S-OLGs. The method is well suited for this family of models, capable of handling nonlinearities inherent in the life-cycle aspect of S-OLGSs, and occasionally binding constraints associated with borrowing constraints. We carefully examine practical considerations and describe how to efficiently implement this method. To illustrate the method's effectiveness, we apply it to solve a standard S-OLG model with idiosyncratic risk and two permanent types. We calculate Euler equation errors throughout the life cycle and measure computational time to demonstrate that C-PEA can perform well under these computational challenges with reasonable accuracy and efficiency. Our results show that, together with its scalability to higher dimensional problems, C-PEA can be a valuable tool for policy analysts and researchers working with S-OLG models
Parkinson’s Disease Diagnosis and Severity Assessment from Gait Signals via Bayesian-Optimized Deep Learning
No full textBackground/Objectives: Early diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is essential for initiating interventions that may slow its progression and enhance patient quality of life. Gait analysis provides a non-invasive means of capturing subtle motor disturbances, enabling the prediction of both disease presence and severity. This study evaluates and contrasts Bayesian-optimized convolutional neural network (CNN) and long short-term memory (LSTM) models applied directly to Vertical Ground Reaction Force (VGRF) signals for Parkinson’s disease detection and staging. Methods: VGRF recordings were segmented into fixed-length windows of 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 s. Each segment was normalized and supplied as input to CNN and LSTM network. Hyperparameters for both architectures were optimized via Bayesian optimization using five-fold cross-validation. Results: The Bayesian-optimized LSTM achieved a peak binary classification accuracy of 99.42% with an AUC of 1.000 for PD versus control at the 10-s window, and 98.24% accuracy with an AUC of 0.999 for Hoehn–Yahr (HY) staging at the 5-s window. The CNN model reached up to 98.46% accuracy (AUC = 0.998) for binary classification and 96.62% accuracy (AUC = 0.998) for multi-class severity assessment. Conclusions: Bayesian-optimized CNN and LSTM models trained on VGRF data both achieved high accuracy in Parkinson’s disease detection and staging, with the LSTM exhibiting a slight edge in capturing temporal patterns while the CNN delivered comparable performance with reduced computational demands. These results underscore the promise of end-to-end deep learning for non-invasive, gait-based assessment in Parkinson’s disease
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