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Suzanne McGowan, Hannah Martinez and Marsha Marcilla
This paper aims to illustrate the importance of a cultural shift to fully embrace and serve persons with cognitive, intellectual or physical disabilities into the library…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to illustrate the importance of a cultural shift to fully embrace and serve persons with cognitive, intellectual or physical disabilities into the library community.
Design/methodology/approach
Through a combination of staff training, age- and ability-appropriate programming, accommodating service models, management-led expectations and partnerships, Anythink Libraries in Thornton, Colorado, implemented AnyAbility – a program designed especially for adults with disabilities – in April 2014.
Findings
AnyAbility’s success has led to a number of positive impacts, including increased services and collaboration, shifts in user patterns and independent visits and a more inclusive library environment in which staff have increased awareness and a stronger interaction with this population.
Originality/value
The program has transformed the lives of the staff who work at Anythink Wright Farms and the community of Anythinkers who use transformations, the AnyAbility programming has been offered at multiple Anythink locations and libraries from across the country have contacted Anythink for inspiration and advice on programs and training on this topic. Most importantly, this approach has transformed the library experience for customers, specifically adults with cognitive disabilities.
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Shenglong Chen, Jiannan Cai, Karina Bogatyreva and Ewuradjoa Quansah
Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) increasingly implement digitalization in uncertain business environments. However, a dearth exists in the entrepreneurship literature…
Abstract
Purpose
Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) increasingly implement digitalization in uncertain business environments. However, a dearth exists in the entrepreneurship literature for understanding the decision-making logic of digitalization as a management issue. Drawing on the effectuation theory, this study aims to explore the relationships between effectuation dimensions and SMEs’ digitalization.
Design/methodology/approach
Using quantitative data collected from 345 Chinese SMEs through questionnaires, the authors conducted the principal component analysis and hierarchical linear regression analysis.
Findings
The results highlight significant positive relationships between the four effectuation elements – experimentation, affordable loss, flexibility and precommitment – and SMEs’ digitalization. Moreover, this research considers the environmental conditions as moderators and reveals that environmental dynamism and complexity associated with high uncertainty negatively moderate the effects of effectuation on SMEs’ digitalization.
Practical implications
SMEs embarking on digitalization should constantly experiment to determine optimal strategies while contemplating their affordable losses. Flexibility should also be maintained to discard unproductive tactics and redirect to other viable options. Additionally, precommitments can reduce the risk that SMEs encounter in digitalization process. While the effectuation principles consolidate the likelihood of a successful digitalization, this research recommends that entrepreneurs should carefully consider their possible application in uncertain environments.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the entrepreneurship literature by theoretically clarifying the decision-making mechanism of digitalization and extends the application of effectuation to this context by illuminating the influences of effectuation principles on SMEs’ digital transformation. The identification of negative moderating effects of environmental uncertainty also augments an academic criticism about uncertainty creating the conditions for effectuation.
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