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The purpose of this paper is to identify whether the prior industry experience (IE) or industry leadership experience (ILE) of the head might influence the department’s publication output, the ability to acquire external research funds or its entrepreneurial activities (e.g. the commercialization of research results through patents).

The study is based on data from 208 Austrian university departments and combines data from different sources (CVs of the heads of departments, commercial register, funding data and publication data).

The results show a positive relationship between ILE and the patent output of the departments as one indicator for the commercialization of research activities. Low positive effects of IE on the extent of third-party funding were also found. Furthermore, the scientific experience of the head of department has a positive influence on the publication output of the whole department.

The findings suggest that the scientific ability of researchers should be key when selecting the head of a department, due to the fact that scientific performance is still essential for most of these units. However, when universities seek to focus more strongly on other, for example, entrepreneurial activities, then additional competencies come into play. As the actual focus of universities is currently subject to change, former IE and ILE will become increasingly more important and the heads of departments will play a decisive role in the transition toward becoming an entrepreneurial university. Therefore, universities are well advised to integrate these experiences in the job specifications and to establish processes that facilitate the change from an industrial to a university job or which allow “double lives” in university and industry.

Previous studies have mostly investigated the role of the scientific experience of academic leaders in the research performance of their institution in later decades. This study examines the actual relevance of previous entrepreneurial experiences of heads of departments to the departments’ research performance, the ability to acquire external research funds or their entrepreneurial activities.

The purpose of this paper is to clarify whether the dark side of personality adds information beyond the bright side when predicting career success.

In total, 287 participants (150♀, M_age=37.74 and SD_age=10.38) completed questionnaires on the Dark Triad (narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy) and the Big Five (emotional stability, extraversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness). They also provided information on their objective (salary and leadership position) and subjective (job satisfaction and satisfaction with income) career success. Regression analyses were used to estimate the Dark Triad’s incremental predictive value.

The results show that the Dark Triad only provides incremental information beyond the Big Five when predicting salary (ΔR²=0.02*) and leadership position (ΔR²=0.04*). In contrast, the Dark Triad does not explain unique variance when predicting job satisfaction or satisfaction with income.

The exclusive use of self-rated success criteria may increase the risk of same-source biases. Thus, future studies should include ratings derived from multiple perspectives.

Considering the Dark Triad in employee selection and development seems particularly promising in the context of competitive behaviour.

The results are discussed in light of the socioanalytic theory. This may help to better understand behaviour in organisational contexts.

This study is the first that simultaneously investigates all three traits of the Dark Triad and the Big Five in combination with objective and subjective career success. In addition, it extends previous findings by answering the question of whether the Dark Triad offers incremental or redundant information to the Big Five when predicting success.

Globally, higher education has been, over the years, a source of innovation, policy, new knowledge and a national asset. However, the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is having an impact on the principles of learning from primary to tertiary levels. The purpose of this paper is to consider how the 4IR has and will continue to impact education at the various levels of learning.

The paper aims to bridge the perceived information gap and provide insights into the kinds of educational preparation and the skills and qualifications that 4IR jobs require. In response, the following are considered: the need to tweak the curriculum, adopt the right technology for in class and online delivery and the projection of other learning techniques and skills that are often not considered pertinent. Data gathering for the report was by discussion with experts and consultation of relevant articles and write-ups from related websites.

The advent of smart communication systems involving artificial intelligence, internet, robotics, virtual reality and digital textbooks has opened a new vista in relation to how and what is learnt in schools. Just as technologies brought about smart communication systems, the 4IR model of higher education is rapidly evolving and as such, curriculum development and review must be dynamic, and it must keep pace with the technological advances and skills required in the twenty first century.

More purposeful research needs to be conducted in universities and industries with the intention of accelerating internal and external innovations so that markets can be expanded. Furthermore, efforts to reduce the cost and time of generating innovations will need to be intensified.

The value and emphasis that are placed on the acquisition of degrees and paper qualifications are changing rapidly. Although it is traditional for students to compete for admission to the face-to-face classroom model, it is no longer unusual for a student to take courses online from any part of the world and still be accepted into positions usually reserved for traditional classroom education.

As at today, examples of 4IR services include Uber, Airbnb, Cloud services, Artificial intelligence, Cyber-security, three-dimensional printers, driverless cars and robotics. Machine learning and drone technology are also of growing significance. As yet, subjects dealing with such inventions and innovations are not part of the curriculum of many institutions and this is a cause for concern.

The 4IR era will bring great changes to how students are taught and what students must learn as the tools for transformational learning are already overwhelming. Jobs will be scarce for those without the requisite skills, whereas those with the right skills will have to keep up with the pace of technological development, otherwise they too will be left behind. Schools will increasingly become centres for the generation of innovation and its incubation and in all this, quality learning, teaching and knowledge impartation can easily be carried out online.

The contribution of the public–private partnership (PPP) model towards the achievement of the United Nation (UN)'s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has been widely acknowledged. However, limited studies have shed light on the connection between PPPs and the achievement of these coveted goals in Ghana. In this study, the authors aimed at analysing and synthesising the existing literature on the use of PPP to achieve sustainability in infrastructure projects in the country.

A three-step approach was used to retrieve and review 60 selected articles aided by content analysis.

The analysis showed that all existing relevant publications on the application of the PPP model to attain UN’s SDGs in the country are organised around dominant themes, such as poverty alleviation, urban development, waste management and risk management. However, the review revealed little studies exist on pertinent issues relating to PPPs and sustainable development goals, such as climate action, critical resilience, sustainable finance and clean energy.

Although the study is limited to 60 articles in Ghana, the results reveal pertinent gaps for further research studies to achieve sustainable infrastructural development in Ghana and other countries.

Holistically, the outcome of this study will serve as a guide to project managers to understand essential issues on attaining sustainability on public projects.

This article contributes to the literature and practice on the significance of PPP in mainstreaming UN's SDGs in public infrastructure projects.