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Various scholars suggest that there is a lack of research on the recruitment in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and also a scarcity of theoretical basis for the recruitment procedures used by these companies. As the vast majority of studies concentrate on larger organizations, they may not accurately reflect the challenges faced by smaller-sized entities to profoundly and accurately comprehend their recruitment procedures. In addition, the use of technology in recruitment has grown in importance in today’s quickly evolving business environment, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic footprint. This study aims to examine the recruitment procedures used by SMEs and how they have been compelled to adjust to different extents to these technological improvements by the effects of the aforementioned epidemic.

With the aim to investigate the current recruitment practices in SMEs and the extent to which digital technologies are embraced by these companies within human resources (HR) procedures, this research relied on interviews with SMEs representatives. The qualitative methods used provided access to relevant data and insights, as they allowed close interactions with top managers and CEOs of ten companies from various sectors. Thus, the research results draw a vivid and reliable image of the procedures and practices used by small and medium-sized companies to attract, select and retain their staff.

This study’s findings are of increased interest to HR professionals, recruiters and managers in SMEs, who aim to attract and retain the best talent and optimize their recruitment strategies in a rapidly changing business environment, enabled by technological advancements. Effective HR recruitment procedures adapted to the specific needs of small and medium-sized companies can lead to several benefits for the organization, including improved employee selection, reduced turnover and increased organizational productivity.

Although the interviews examined here encompass recruitment techniques from SMEs in a variety of industries, the results’ generalizability is limited by the sample size and geography. Furthermore, the findings’ dependability is dependent on the accuracy of the data provided by the respondents.

This investigation confirms some of the theoretical underpinnings which point to the lack of formalized structures and procedures in the recruitment process in SMEs, which enjoy more flexibility in managing HR processes. In addition, the results reinforce the arguments indicating an adjustment between HR strategies or policies and organizational goals in smaller enterprises which adapt faster to changes in the market. Moreover, it becomes apparent that there is a relationship between the quality of job descriptions and the successful fit in attracting the right candidates for the open positions. Furthermore, digital technologies offer opportunities for expanding the recruiters’ reach to a wider audience and also support the selection stage, thus increasing the chances of finding suitable staff. As the need to shift from traditional recruitment to e-recruitment in SMEs has been highlighted in the literature, the qualitative research revealed that this need was driven on the one hand by the COVID-19 pandemic when these companies successfully adapted and implemented new online methods of recruiting, but also by the lack of skilled labor, leading to the expansion of recruitment to other parts of the country or even to other countries.

With regard to the proportion of men and women used in small and medium-sized companies, there is a clear need to involve and train more women in the predominantly male-dominated industrial and IT sectors. From this point of view, companies tend to devote more interest to integrating communities of women in these industries, as well as in key management positions. Another point of interest that the study highlights is the fact that SMEs have started to get creative with the benefits package they propose to candidates and focus on remote work, hybrid office–home working, or seasonal work to offer future employees a better work–life balance.

The added value of this investigation is filling the gaps in the current literature concerning recruitment procedures currently used by SMEs, the challenges they face and the solutions they advanced to solve them. Furthermore, SMEs often drive innovation and competition in the market and play a crucial role in the supply chain of larger companies, providing them with the goods and services they need to operate and supporting the availability and reliability of products from larger companies. They are often the driving force behind revitalizing local economies and creating new employment opportunities. Consequently, the underlying significance of this study is rooted in the need to modernize and simultaneously improve HR recruitment procedures through the integration of technology and a focus on innovation.

Previous literature has identified human resources as a key source of competitive advantage in organizations of all sizes. However, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) face difficulty in comprehensively implementing all recommended Human Resource Management (HRM) functions. In this study, we shed light on the field of HRM in SMEs by focusing on the context of Greek Small and Medium-sized Hotels (SMHs), which represent a dominant private sector employer across the country.

Using a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) and 34 in-depth interviews with SMHs' owners/managers, we explore the HRM conditions leading to high levels of performance, while taking into consideration the influence of internal key determinants.

We uncover three alternative successful HRM strategies that maximize business performance, namely the Compensation-based performers, the HRM developers and the HRM investors. Each strategy fits discreet organizational characteristics related to company size, ownership type and organizational structure.

To the best of the authors' knowledge this is among the first empirical studies that examine different and equifinal performance-enhancing configurations of HRM practices in SMHs.

The objective of this research is to analyze how omnichannel consumer journey design (OCJD) influences the online customer experience (OCE) and e-satisfaction in consumers' multirooming behavior (searching for information in online and offline channels and purchasing the product online).

The problem-solving theory and experiential marketing perspective are the theoretical background that enables the establishment of five hypotheses. A survey is conducted on multiroomers who had purchased a product online, following an online and offline research journey.

The results showed that OCJD directly and indirectly (through online consumer experience) influences e-satisfaction. Females and younger individuals exhibited higher levels of e-satisfaction.

First, this research analyzes consumers' multichannel search strategies. Second, the consumer journey is incorporated into the study of multichannel retailing. Third, an emergent typology of cross-channel free-riding behavior is analyzed: multirooming.

This paper investigates the interactional relationships between sustainable human resource management (SHRM) and organizational performance (OP). Sustainable HRM is an approach that links HRM and sustainability. These studies focused on integrating HR with sustainable developments, such as economic and social aspects, in favour of focusing on the environmental aspect. Organizational change is an ongoing process that has to be managed effectively to keep the change in place for a long time.

A framework was offered to estimate the cause-and-effect relation of the SHRM and OP factors. Data is gathered from professionals from various pharmaceutical industries. This study applied two methods, Fuzzy AHP and DEMATEL Type II. These techniques are used to understand the cause-and-effect factors and their interactions.

It was observed from the findings that the factor of SHRM, such as Social Justice (F2), Green Job Design (F5), Green Training (F6) and Implementation of Green Policy (F8), was the most critical for the pharmaceutical sector that effects Financial performance (F13), Customer Satisfaction (F15) and Market performance (F14). Pharmaceutical firms ought to coordinate public health advocacy efforts, engage in healthcare initiatives and provide financial support for environmentally friendly efforts that improve social and economic conditions.

For this sustainability, managers concentrate on creating an environment that is healthy and acceptable, and they work hard to mitigate the impact of natural factors and repair damage done to the environment; it is essential to move towards sustainable development to resolve environmental problems. Improving HR efficiency is among essential HRM responsibilities, as they expand the knowledge base of the workforce, enhance human capital, and eventually create valuable intangible assets and promote and encourage sustainable pharmaceutical products for some years.

This research paper has presented exclusive worth to the SHRM and organizational performance literature as it employs fuzzy FAHP and DEMATEL type 2. There is less research on SHRM in the pharmaceutical sector with these factors. In addition, FAHP and TYPE 2 DEMATEL are used in very few researches on SHRM approaches.

This study aims to explore how student recruitment practitioners at regional Australian universities strategise student recruitment efforts in Thailand. There is scarce research addressing regional universities, with prior studies focusing on metropolitan universities. Similarly, most prior studies have focused on high-volume markets, with little research exploring emerging markets such as Thailand.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with student recruitment practitioners from regional universities that were responsible for recruiting Thai students. Thematic analysis was conducted to identify key themes.

Regional universities lack strategic ambidexterity in their approach to recruiting international students. They viewed Thailand as requiring longer term investment and were unwilling to dedicate their limited resources towards developing this market at the expense of other markets that would yield enrolments to contribute towards short-term targets.

Implications are provided with relevance to the student recruitment practitioner, with strategic ambidexterity discussed.

The paper fills a gap in the research by exploring international student recruitment and contextualising both regional universities and Thailand as a recruitment market. This study provides useful considerations that may be relevant to other emerging markets.

Traditional sports have seen declining participation at many levels, with football being no different. This is occurring at a time when emergent technologies present new challenges, particularly to the crucial yet ignored cohort of millennials. Without meeting the needs of millennials, football cannot be successful in the future. This research seeks to understand how millennial football fandom (sport, not team) in Australia impacts football participation, whilst empirically examining the impact of football video games (FVGs).

Survey data are collected from online groups, forums and social media pages of Australian football (soccer) fans. Quantitative analysis of millennial fandom and its influence on football participation (for the first time demarcated into play and engagement) is undertaken, including the moderating influence of time spent playing FVGs, amidst covariate influences of age and number of children.

Results highlight the multi-dimensionality of millennial football fandom in Australia, reveal the typical hours spent playing football across a range of participation types (including play and engagement), support fan involvement’s influence on engagement with football, establish that a desire to interact with other football fans manifests in playing more football, specify how playing FVGs moderates these relationships, supports the covariate influences of age and evidences that playing FVGs does not hamper football play.

This is the first study to examine millennial fans of football (the sport, not tied to a club) and the influence of fandom on football participation. By separating football participation into two forms, play and engagement, we highlight discrete influences, whilst evaluating for the first time the moderating influence of the time millennials spend playing FVGs. For sport managers and administrators, these are important findings to facilitate better segmentation, recruitment, retention and participation, each with broader societal health benefits. This is undertaken in Australia where football is not a dominant code, relegating fandom to a niche, thus revealing important findings for sports and business management.

Access to media is more available now than ever before, both physically and digitally. This study was used to investigate the underlying personality traits that influence the decision to purchase either physical or digital books, and extend theory on access to art and provide a unique lens through which marketers can sell digital media.

Study 1 is a field study in which data were collected from several comic book readers and collectors to look at the role that psychological ownership plays in influencing the likelihood of buying physical or digital comics. Specifically, study 1 includes consumers' need for uniqueness and tech savviness as potential influencers. Study 2 extends the findings of study into a new context and manipulates, rather than measures, the identity of the participants. Study 2 looks at the effects of turning a digital object into a non-fungible token (NFT).

This paper demonstrates that consumers who have a high consumer need for uniqueness (CNFU) are more likely to prefer physical media to digital media. Further, it is shown that preference for physical media leads, on average, to more purchases and that the consumer's psychological ownership mediates the effects of CNFU. In addition, this paper shows that higher degrees of tech savviness led to a preference for digital media. Finally, this paper shows that when consumers identify with a collector identity, turning a digital item into an NFT increases their preference for that object.

This work builds off recent research into physical and digital media and is one of the first to examine the specific personality types that prefer each.

This paper aims to examine how organisational values affect diversity in terms of different competencies in rural family Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). Recruiting a diverse workforce in rural family SMEs can be particularly difficult due to the prevalence of internal family values and the lack of available local specialised competencies. A deficiency of diversity in employment and competence acquisition and development can create problems, as it often prevents rural family SMEs from recruiting employees with a wide variety of qualifications and skills.

The study takes on a multi-case method of Swedish rural family SMEs, applying a qualitative content analysis approach. In total, 20 in-depth structured interviews are conducted with rural family SME owners and 2 industries were investigated and compared – the tourism and the manufacturing industries.

Rural family SMEs lack long-term employment strategies, and competence diversity does not appear to be a priority for rural family SMEs, as they often have prematurely decided who they will hire rather than what competencies are needed for their long-term business development. It is more important to keep the team of employees tight and the family spirit present than to include competence diversity and mixed qualifications in the employment acquisition and development.

Contrary to prior research, our findings indicate that rural family SMEs apply short-term competence diversity strategies rather than long-term prospects regarding competence acquisition and management, due to their family values and rural setting, which strictly narrows the selection of employees and competencies. Also, a general reluctance towards competence diversity is identified, which originates from the very same family values and rural context.

This research aims to build on the pre-existing corpus of literature through the integration of the technology acceptance model (TAM) and usage habit to more accurately capture the determinants associated with social media addiction among university students. This study seeks to delineate how usage habit and TAM may be used as predictors for addiction potential, as well as provide greater insight into current trends in social media usage across this population demographic.

A cross-sectional research design was employed to investigate the determinants of social media addiction among university students in Malaysia at the onset of their tertiary education. A self-administered survey, adapted from prior studies, was administered to a sample of 217 respondents. The hypotheses on social media addiction were subsequently tested using a partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach.

Usage habit was found to be a direct and strong predictor of this type of addiction, as well as all TAM variables considered in the research. Additionally, by integrating TAM with usage habit, the study revealed a comprehensive and multi-faceted understanding of social media addiction, providing an important insight into its complexity in the Malaysian context. Although several other factors have been identified as potential contributors to social media reliance and addictive behavior, it appears that usage habit is paramount in driving these addictive tendencies among university students.

This expanded model holds significant implications for the development of interventions and policies that aim to mitigate the adverse effects of social media addiction on students' educational and psychological well-being. The study illustrates the applicability of the TAM in examining addictive behaviors within emerging contexts such as the Malaysian higher education sector, thus contributing to the extant literature on the subject.

The integrated TAM and habit model is an effective predictor of social media addiction among young adults in developing countries like Malaysia. This highlights the importance of actively monitoring and controlling users' interactions with technology and media platforms, while promoting responsible usage habits. Educators can use these findings to create tailored educational programs to educate students on how to use technology responsibly and reduce their risk of becoming addicted to social media.

This study provides a unique perspective on social media addiction among university students. The combination of TAM and usage habit has the potential to shed significant light on how variables such as perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU) may be associated with addictive behaviors. Additionally, by considering usage habit as an explanatory factor, this research offers a novel approach to understanding how addictions form over time.

The implementation of BIM in the construction industry requires the coevolution of the various aspects of the BIM ecosystem. The human dimension is a very important dimension of the ecosystem necessary for BIM implementation. It is imperative to study this aspect of the BIM ecosystem both from the employer perspective and employee availability to provide insights for stakeholders (job seekers, employers, students, researchers, policymakers, higher education institutions, career advisors and curriculum developers) interested in the labour market dynamics.

To understand the BIM actor roles through the employer lens and the actual BIM actors in the construction industry, this study employed data mining of job adverts from LinkedIn and Mncjobs website. Content analysis was employed to gain insights into the data collected. Also, through a quantitative approach, the existing BIM actor roles were identified.

The study identified the employers' expectations of BIM actors; however, it is noted that the BIM actor recruitment space is still a loose one as recruiters put out open advertisements to get a large pool of applicants. From the data analysed, it is concluded that the BIM actor role is not an entirely new profession. However, it simply exists as construction industry professionals with BIM tool skills. Also, the professional development route is not well defined yet.

This study presents a realistic angle to BIM actor roles hence enhancing BIM implementation from the human perspective. The findings present an insight into the preferred against the actual.