Research Repository
Post Graduate Certificate in Business and Management Research Methods
Postgraduate Certificate
Level Postgraduate Certificate Student Homa Rahimi Status Complete Part Time Yes Years 2022 - 2024 Awarding Institution Edinburgh Napier University Director of Studies Paul Barron Second Supervisor Anna Leask Additional Supervisor Kelsy Hejjas
PhD
Doctorate
Level Doctorate Student Homa Rahimi Status Current Part Time Yes Years 2022 Project Title Lean Talent Management & Dynamic Innovative Capability in the Hotel Sector The Case Study of the Scottish Hotel Sector Awarding Institution Edinburgh Napier University Director of Studies Paul Barron Second Supervisor Anna Leask Additional Supervisor Kelsy Hejjas
PhD
Doctorate
Level Doctorate Student Dr Shemroy Roberts Status Complete Part Time No Years 2020 - 2024 Project Title A critical evaluation of the factors that influence visitor engagement with UK slavery heritage museums: a blended passive symbolic netnographic study Project Description There is a substantial body of literature in slavery heritage tourism research that is mainly supply-driven and has focused on the management, presentation, and interpretation of slavery heritage for tourism purposes. However, the demand side in slavery heritage tourism research is under-researched and ripe for further contributions. Publications concentrated on the demand side have researched visitor motivations and experiences at slavery heritage attractions, particularly at plantation museums in the USA and slave castles in Ghana. Yet, to date, the factors that influence visitors to engage with slavery heritage attractions remain unexplored within the extant body of literature. Therefore, this thesis critically evaluates the factors that influence visitor engagement with UK slavery heritage museums. The thesis employed a blended passive symbolic netnographic methodology, combining online semi-structured interviews with content analysis of TripAdvisor reviews. Data was collected through unobtrusive internet-mediated observations of TripAdvisor reviews and online semi-structured interviews with thirteen managers and curators from eight UK slavery heritage museums, which were selected through purposive sampling. Through thematic analysis, the findings revealed that visitor engagement with UK slavery heritage museums varies and is subjective. It has been found that prior knowledge, multiple motivations, cultural capital, social capital, and the management of the visitor attraction influence visitor engagement with UK slavery heritage museums and are not mutually exclusive. Thus, this subjectivity and overlapping of factors present a challenge for museum professionals in designing these attractions for visitor consumption. These findings are unique to dark tourism research, particularly slavery heritage tourism, as this study is the first to have researched and documented the factors that influence visitor engagement with UK slavery heritage museums. The thesis contributes to an understanding of visitor engagement with UK slavery heritage museums through the development of a conceptual framework. The findings of the thesis provide insights into the factors that influence visitor engagement with UK slavery heritage museums to managers, curators, and decision-makers responsible for designing and managing these attractions. Therefore, the thesis findings enable museum professionals to develop strategies to better manage visitor engagement with slavery heritage museums.
Keywords: Museums, Netnography, Slavery, Visitor engagementAwarding Institution Edinburgh Napier University Director of Studies Craig Wight Second Supervisor Anna Leask Thesis A critical evaluation of the factors that influence visitor engagement with UK slavery heritage museums: a blended passive symbolic netnographic study
PhD
Doctorate
Level Doctorate Student Dr Martin Robertson Status Complete Part Time Yes Years 2015 - 2017 Project Title Sustainable festivals and events - an enquiry of leadership and futures Project Description As a societal phenomenon, festivals and planned events are discussed in a wide policy context. They have entered a broader discussion with regard to sustainability in which the factors that contribute to being sustainable are part of a new paradigm of responsibility for festivals and events. Recognition that this includes responsibility for socio-cultural impacts has gained traction in the academic literature. However, only minor attention has been given to the dynamics and competencies affecting the decision making of festivals and events leadership as it influences these. As the needs of festival stakeholder are changing, so too consideration of new competencies and new platforms for transformation are required. This critical appraisal provides a significant consideration of my research in this subject area. At the core of the appraisal are nine peer-reviewed journal papers, two peer-reviewed research book chapters and one peer-reviewed conference paper. These reveal the contribution over the last ten years made to the body of knowledge in the research area of leadership, futures and sustainable development of festivals and events. The pragmatist paradigm that had guided the work, and the integration of research methods germane to the stage of the research cycle and the layering of knowledge is discussed. A principal tenet of the research is creation of knowledge which is both academically rigorous and socially useful. The contribution of my work to knowledge and understanding is established in three key theme areas of festivals and events leadership values and influences; festivals and events context and stakeholders; and festivals and events futures. For both academic and the festival and event providers, practical benefits of extending the capacity of leadership competencies and awareness – and the obstructions to this – are shown, with methodologies for future visioning and future proofing observed and discussed. Limitations of the work and future research proposals conclude the work. Awarding Institution Edinburgh Napier University Director of Studies Anna Leask Second Supervisor Jane Ali-Knight Thesis Sustainable festivals and events – an inquiry of leadership and futures
PhD
Doctorate
Level Doctorate Student Jack Hansen Status Current Part Time No Years 2023 Project Title Community, organisational, and technological transitions: Mapping the places and spaces of Edinburgh as the festival city and Scotland's leading tourism destination Awarding Institution Edinburgh Napier University Director of Studies Louise Todd Second Supervisor Anna Leask Additional Supervisor David Jarman
Research Degree
Doctorate
Level Doctorate Student Yemi Oyadiran Status Withdrawn Years 2021 Director of Studies Louise Todd Second Supervisor Anna Leask
PhD in Tourism Marketing and Festival Studies
Doctorate
Level Doctorate Student Dr Louise Todd Status Complete Part Time No Years 2007 - 2011 Project Title Festival images: Brand image and stakeholders’ brand relationship types at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Awarding Institution Edinburgh Napier University Second Supervisor Anna Leask
PhD
Doctorate
Level Doctorate Student Dr Ellis Urquhart Status Complete Part Time No Years 2014 - 2019 Project Title The role of interactive technology in the co-creation of experience in Scottish visitor attractions Project Description "
As a sector that is reliant on the creation and management of memorable experiences, visitor attractions (VAs) have increasingly turned to interactive technology as a platform for engaging and communicating with visitors. Research in this area has too often focussed on the applicability of various technology platforms in the attraction environment, however few authors have questioned the extent to which these foster memorable and interactive experiences. In the service management field, service-dominant (S-D) logic and the co-creation perspective offer a series of lenses to examine tourism experience. The S-D approach attempts to blur the boundaries between actors within the traditional service relationship. In particular, customers are seen as active co-creators of their own experience rather than passive recipients of a pre-determined product. The management role is also represented, through the provision of engagement platforms (such as technology) that support customers in generating an individualised experience. However, rarely has the process of experience co-creation been explored in the tourism context and even less so in the VA sector. As such, this PhD research aims to question the process by which visitors actively co-create an experience with interactive technology as a mediating platform. Through a multiple case study approach and qualitative methods, the study questions the ability of VAs to facilitate experience co-creation through interactive technology, whilst also debating the interconnected factors which mediate the process.
"Awarding Institution Edinburgh Napier University Director of Studies Anna Leask Second Supervisor Ivana Rihova
DBA
Doctorate
Level Doctorate Student Dr Christine Band Status Complete Part Time Yes Years 2009 - 2014 Project Title An ethnographic interpretation of the work environment within a creative culture in the advertising sector Project Description Purpose and rationale
The purpose of the exploratory research is to provide a deeper understanding of how the work environment enhances or constrains organisational creativity (creativity and innovation) within the context of the advertising sector. The argument for the proposed research is that the contemporary literature is dominated by quantitative research instruments to measure the climate and work environment across many different sectors. The most influential theory within the extant literature is the componential theory of organisational creativity and innovation and is used as an analytical guide (Amabile, 1997; Figure 8) to conduct an ethnographic study within a creative advertising agency based in Scotland. The theory suggests that creative people (skills, expertise and task motivation) are influenced by the work environment in which they operate. This includes challenging work (+), work group supports (+), supervisory encouragement (+), freedom (+), sufficient resources (+), workload pressures (+ or -), organisational encouragement (+) and organisational impediments (-) which is argued enhances (+) or constrains (-) both creativity and innovation. An interpretive research design is conducted to confirm, challenge or extend the componential theory of organisational creativity and innovation (Amabile, 1997; Figure 8) and contribute to knowledge as well as practice.
Design/methodology/approach
The scholarly activity conducted within the context of the creative industries and advertising sector is in its infancy and research from the alternative paradigm using qualitative methods is limited which may provide new guidelines for this industry sector. As such, an ethnographic case study research design is a suitable methodology to provide a deeper understanding of the subject area and is consistent with a constructivist ontology and an interpretive epistemology. This ontological position is conducive to the researcher’s axiology and values in that meaning is not discovered as an objective truth but socially constructed from multiple realties from social actors. As such, ethnography is the study of people in naturally occurring settings and the creative advertising agency involved in the research is an appropriate purposive sample within an industry that is renowned for its creativity and innovation. Qualitative methods such as participant observation (field notes, meetings, rituals, social events and tracking a client brief), material artefacts (documents, websites, annual reports, emails, scrapbooks and photographic evidence) and focused interviews (informal and formal conversations, six taped and transcribed interviews and use of Survey Monkey) are used to provide a written account of the agency’s work environment. The analytical process of interpreting the ethnographic text is supported by thematic analysis (selective, axial and open coding) through the use of manual analysis and NVivo9 software Findings
The findings highlight a complex interaction between the people within the agency and the enhancers and constraints of the work environment in which they operate. This involves the creative work environment (Amabile, 1997; Figure 8) as well as the physical work environment (Cain, 2012; Dul and Ceylan, 2011; Dul et al. 2011) and that of social control and power (Foucault, 1977; Gahan et al. 2007; Knights and Willmott, 2007). As such, the overarching themes to emerge from the data on how the work environment enhances or constrains organisational creativity include creative people (skills, expertise and task motivation), creative process (creative work environment and physical work environment) and creative power (working hours, value of creativity, self-fulfilment and surveillance). Therefore, the findings confirm that creative people interact and are influenced by aspects of the creative work environment outlined by Amabile (1997; Figure 8). However, the results also challenge and extend the theory to include that of the physical work environment and creative power. Originality/value/implications
Methodologically, there is no other interpretive research that uses an ethnographic case study approach within the context of the advertising sector to explore and provide a deeper understanding of the subject area. As such, the contribution to knowledge in the form of a new interpretive framework (Figure 16) challenges and extends the existing body of knowledge (Amabile, 1997; Figure 8). Moreover, the contribution to practice includes a flexible set of industry guidelines (Appendix 13) that may be transferrable to other organisational settings.Awarding Institution Edinburgh Napier University Second Supervisor Anna Leask Thesis An ethnographic interpretation of the work environment within a creative culture in the advertising sector
DBA - check status
Doctorate
Level Doctorate Student Lindsay Cole Status Withdrawn Part Time Yes Years 2017 Awarding Institution Edinburgh Napier University Director of Studies Paul Barron Second Supervisor Anna Leask
About Edinburgh Napier Research Repository
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