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The aim of this chapter is to investigate factors affecting four of the gaps encompassed in the GAP model, which then results in Gap 5, the so-called customer gap, related to the variance between customer expectations and the perception of service quality (SQ). Four predictors were selected based on the literature review – marketing research orientation (MRO), service specification design (SSD), integrated technology (ITC) and integrated communication (ICO) – to examine their relationship with the customer gap. A valid and reliable questionnaire, developed for the purpose of the study, was used to collect data from a sample consisting of 600 employees from six hotels located in Amman, Jordan. The findings show that MRO, SSD, ITC and ICO significantly predict the four gaps in SQ on the provider side, which in turn significantly predict the customer gap. For companies, more attention should be paid to the four gaps that induce the customer gap.

The purpose of this study is to understand the potential of serious gaming as an imaginative and creative method to collect data in disaster studies that address key concerns such as extractive research, power inequalities, and bridging the theory-practice gap in exploring post-disaster recovery.

Novel serious gaming approach deployed to connect theory-practice by identifying and co-analysing post-disaster recovery gaps in a workshop setting.

The serious game has value in bridging theory-practice divides, identifying and exploring gaps/solutions in post-flood recovery, and serving as a novel social science research approach for disaster studies.

Outlining a dialogic approach to knowledge construction between academics, practitioners, policymakers and community voices on post-disaster recovery.

Fostering collaboration and knowledge construction on post-disaster recovery gaps across stakeholders is valuable in improving disaster resilience strategies that benefit communities affected by disasters.

The paper proposes a creative and co-developed serious game method of data collection for disaster studies.

This article focuses on children’s social quality. Social quality can be understood as the extent to which people can engage in the social, economic, and cultural lives of their communities, under conditions that strengthen their well-being and potential. This article has two purposes. The first is to develop a league table ranking 23 countries’ children’s social quality based on comparative data. The second is to examine the correlation between these countries' commitment to promoting children’s social quality and reducing the child care gap, where childcare is insufficiently covered by child care leave or Early Childhood Education and Care.

We analyse the findings obtained from the children’s social quality league table and the child care gap league table for the 23 countries.

The findings reveal mixed relationships between the children’s social quality league table and the child care gap league table. These findings indicate that we cannot assume that countries prioritizing the reduction of the child care gap automatically possess the capacity or willingness to promote other aspects of children’s welfare. They also highlight the significance of encouraging countries to enhance their children’s social quality as a way to promote children’s welfare rather than solely reducing the child care gap.

Children’s social quality is a new research area. To explore it, this article makes an innovative attempt by exploring the connection between social quality, children’s welfare, and the child care gap. The league table of children’s social quality this article developed is the first of its kind.

The primary aim of this paper is to illuminate the critical issue of the degree awarding gap in the UK, which significantly impacts students from lower socio-economic backgrounds and minority groups. By conducting a systematic review of existing literature following the PRISMA protocol, this study seeks to uncover the complex web of explanatory factors that mediate the relationship between contextual indicators, institutional culture, and degree awarding disparities. Addressing this gap is vital for promoting social justice, enhancing the economy, safeguarding the reputation of UK universities, and adhering to legal responsibilities. This paper endeavours to provide a comprehensive understanding of the underlying causes of degree awarding gaps and offer evidence-based recommendations for the higher education sector to mitigate these disparities.

This study employs a systematic review design, adhering to the PRISMA protocol, to meticulously analyse the existing body of literature concerning the degree awarding gap in UK higher education. By systematically gathering, evaluating, and synthesizing relevant studies, the review aims to identify and understand the multifaceted factors mediating the link between contextual indicators, institutional culture, and the disparities observed in degree awarding. This methodological approach ensures a rigorous and transparent examination of the literature, enabling the identification of both the breadth and depth of research on the topic. Through this design, the paper aspires to uncover nuanced insights into the mechanisms driving degree awarding gaps.

The review’s findings reveal that degree awarding gaps in UK universities are influenced by a constellation of factors, highlighting the complexity of this issue. Key among these are unconscious bias, limited student engagement opportunities with academic staff, institutional racism, inadequate support systems, and a scarcity of social and cultural capital. These factors collectively contribute to significant disparities in degree outcomes, disproportionately disadvantaging students from lower socio-economic backgrounds and minority groups. The evidence suggests that institutional practices and culture play a pivotal role in either exacerbating or alleviating these disparities, indicating the need for targeted interventions to address the root causes of degree awarding gaps.

One strength of conducting a systematic review is its rigorous and meticulous nature, which ensures that the process is carefully planned and executed. This comprehensive approach allows for the elimination of biases, as the review systematically gathers and analyses existing literature on the topic. By adhering to a structured methodology, the systematic review enhances the validity and reliability of the findings, providing a robust and unbiased synthesis of the available evidence. This strength lends credibility to the research and reinforces the confidence in the conclusions drawn from the review.

The practical implications arising from this information indicate that universities need to address the identified issues directly by implementing supportive strategies and interventions. By doing so, they can create a learning environment that is more inclusive and equitable, allowing all students to unlock their full potential. This may involve measures such as raising awareness about unconscious bias, promoting engagement between academic staff and students, implementing anti-racist policies, establishing comprehensive support systems, and actively fostering social and cultural capital. Such practical actions will contribute to reducing the degree awarding gaps and promoting equal opportunities for all students, ultimately leading to a more equitable and successful educational experience.

The social implications derived from this information are significant. By implementing supportive strategies and interventions to address the identified issues, universities can contribute to creating a more inclusive and equitable learning environment. This has the potential to have a transformative impact on society by providing equal opportunities for all students to unlock their full potential. By raising awareness about unconscious bias and implementing anti-racist policies, universities can foster a more diverse and inclusive community. Promoting engagement between academic staff and students and establishing comprehensive support systems can enhance social cohesion and create a sense of belonging. Ultimately, these efforts can lead to reduced degree awarding gaps and contribute to a more equitable and successful educational experience, positively influencing broader social equality and cohesion.

This paper contributes significantly to the literature by offering a comprehensive, systematic review of the factors contributing to the degree awarding gap in UK higher education, highlighting its originality and value. By focusing on the interplay between contextual indicators, institutional culture, and degree awarding disparities, the study provides novel insights into how these dynamics contribute to educational inequities. Furthermore, the evidence-based recommendations for institutional interventions presented in this paper furnish the higher education sector with actionable strategies to foster a more inclusive and equitable learning environment. This work not only advances academic understanding of degree awarding gaps but also offers practical value to policymakers and educational institutions aiming to enhance social justice in higher education.

Agency theory motivated this study, posing that leverage mitigates the agency problem. The aim was to examine whether leverage influences the relationship between executive-employee pay gaps (EEPGs) and firm performance. The study was conducted in the mining and retail sectors between 2012 and 2021.

Two EEPGs were featured based on their executive fixed pay and variable incentives accumulation. Proxies of firm performance were headline earnings per share; return on assets; earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation; and return on stock price. Data were collected from 76 JSE-listed firms in the retail and mining sectors and analysed using the two-step generalised method of moments.

The results revealed the hybrid implication of the pay gap for firm performance in the retail and mining sectors of South Africa, depending on the performance measures emphasised. More importantly, the study shows that with the moderating effects of leverage, firms can improve their performance while shrinking the pay gap.

The results have implications for policy addressing income inequality, debt management, executive compensation and regulatory reforms in South Africa concerning productivity and remuneration decisions.

The article provides specific literature for retail and mining industries on pay gaps, shows that it is possible to reduce the pay gap without compromising performance and suggests a new measure of performance that is more attuned to pay gap effect measurement.

Management is a blended discipline with characteristics of both science and art. The component science is to be learnt and art to be practiced. This art component of management education is the really challenging part, and this is where the management educational institutions build their uniqueness. The present management education needs a paradigm shift in order to fulfill the growing futuristic demands of the industry. The quality gaps identified through review of literature are preach–practice, industry–institution linkages, quality faculty, updated curriculum, soft skills development, research, online platforms and updated pedagogies. The researcher has taken an attempt to do a dyadic study in India.

The researcher has taken an attempt to do a dyadic study in India to analyze the perception of the management faculty and management students toward filling the quality gaps for a futuristic management education. The study has included 125 management faculties and 1200 management students through simple random sampling, and the data are collected through survey method.

The independent “t” test has been applied. The management faculties exhibit high degree of acceptance for filling the quality gaps such as research gaps, online platforms and industry and institution linkages since the mean scores are 4.22, 4.20 and 4.14 respectively. The management students exhibit high degree of acceptance for filling the quality gaps such as online platforms, updated pedagogies and soft skills development since the respective mean scores are 3.87, 3.85 and 3.82.

The research area chosen for the study is reflecting the scenario of management education in developing countries such as India. The scenario may differ to developed countries.

When the quality of the management education is enriched, it will create global management professionals who will contribute qualitatively to the industries and uplift the overall global economic developments.

The present study is enriching the existing literature review, by comparing the perception of both the counterparts, the management faculty and students, about the teaching and learning process. Thus, it can be concluded that the outcome of this study is relevant for the management educational institutions, and the need of the hour for the management education is definitely to fill the quality gaps, and all the management educational institutions have to be prepared enough to overcome the gaps with the support of their well-planned strategies. The futuristic demands are ever growing, even then the gap between the present and future expectations of the industry need to be well considered and bridged. As a result of the paradigm shift, the quality of the management education will be enriched, and it will create global management professionals. As a result of this quality-conscious education, a reputed brand image and set of loyal customers may also be developed (Akareem and Hossain, 2016). The learners of quality management education will contribute qualitatively to the industries and uplift the overall global economic developments. Further research is needed to measure the post impact of filling the quality gaps in the arena of management education.

The quality gaps identified through review of literature are preach–practice, industry–institution linkages, quality faculty, updated curriculum, soft skills development, research, online platforms and updated pedagogies.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of different types of winding configurations on the distribution of leakage field and branch currents for a 330-kVA high-temperature superconducting (HTS) transformer winding.

A three-dimensional electromagnetic model coupled with a circuit model validated by an experiment is developed to calculate the leakage field and current uniformity under four different types of secondary winding configurations. The four types of gaps between secondary windings are uniform gap, arithmetic progression (AP) gap, six sections with three different gaps and eight sections with four different gaps. A coefficient named as uneven degree is used to define the current nonuniformity.

The simulation results show that the currents and leakage field of double pancakes (DPs) on both sides are larger than those of the other DPs, and the currents of several middle DPs are smaller than the average rated current with an ISOB gap and larger than the average rated current with an IBOS gap. For any one of the four types of winding configurations, the type with the ISOB gap can prohibit the current nonuniformity more effectively, whereas the IBOS gap can decrease the leakage field more. The AP with the ISOB gap is a wise choice for decreasing the uneven degree and leakage field.

There is an optimal winding configuration for decreasing the leakage field and uneven degree of branch currents. The results and numerical model are very useful for the design of a HTS transformer.

The leakage field distribution and branch currents nonuniformity for 25 parallel DPs are investigated and optimized.

Describes a study which examined the relationship of employment gaps to measures of work outcomes and emotion wellbeing. Data were collected from a diverse sample of 792 managerial and professional women using questionnaires completed anonymously. Managerial women with more employment gaps were older, more likely married, had more children if married, earned less income and worked fewer hours and extra‐hours per week. Women with more employment gaps also reported less career satisfaction, less job involvement and less optimistic career prospects. Employment gaps were not, however, related to psychological wellbeing. Women reporting more employment gaps earned less income though having more work experience and similar educational qualifications and credentials.

The purpose of this study is to increase understanding of the dynamics of gaps in buyer‐seller relationships. Increasingly complex, fast changing, and dynamic business environments provide a rich research environment for analysing dynamics of gaps in business relationships. Traditionally gaps have been examined from the static and single party perspective. However, dyadic buyer‐seller relationships can be revealed, described, and analysed in new ways by viewing intraorganisational and interorganisational gaps longitudinally as chains of interactions in relationships and from the perspectives of several parties. The dynamic gaps of the relationships are described and analysed longitudinally from the perspective of gaps for the first time.

A test procedure was developed to assess the capillary flow wettability of solders inside a confined geometry. The test geometry comprised two parallel plates with a controlled gap of constant thickness (0.008 cm, 0.018 cm, 0.025 cm and 0.038 cm). Capillary flow was assessed by: (1) the meniscus or capillary rise of the solder within the gap; (2) the extent of void formation in the gap; and (3) the time dependence of the risen solder film. Tests were performed with the lead‐free solders 95Sn‐5Sb, 96.5Sn‐3.5Ag, and 91.84Sn‐3.33Ag‐4.83Bi. The capillary rise of the lead‐free solders was less than that observed with the 63Sn‐37Pb control. Reducing the solder surface tension and contact angle improved capillary flow. Void formation by the non lead solders increased as the gap became smaller. The extent of voiding was determined primarily by the gap size rather than the wettability parameters (contact angle or surface tension) of the individual alloys.