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Research has shown that information technology has a tremendous effect on higher educational (HE) institutions. The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework that would depict and highlight on the financial, cultural, political and social difficulties that affect the adoption of technology in HE institutions.

In this study, it is hypothesized that cultural, political and financial resources of the university administrative body, together with the employees’ background in terms of academic experience and education, shape the approach to a successful IT adoption. To investigate the proposed framework, a survey targeting employees, and an interview targeting IT managers were conducted.

The results indicate that the university structural framework together with IT knowledge and awareness at the university administrative level restrains any individual cultural and political effects on the IT adoption even if it is implemented partially.

First, the respondents were selected using the convenience sampling technique. Second, the data were collected through self-report questionnaires.

The results of this study are important for university administrators, technology suppliers and donors, as this may contribute to better understanding of the factors that could influence the adoption, management and use of ICT resources for enhancing the knowledge of the university capabilities.

This study is the first one to address the integration of IT in HE institutions in the region; the results have implications for IT adoption in such institutions. More importantly, the study suggests a framework that reveals multiple levels of influence that impact the adoption and implementation of IT in the institutions.

THE rules for the 1935 Deutsch de la Meurthe Cup Race remained almost identical with those of 1933 and 1934. Briefly, the contest was open to all types of land “aerodynes”; the only limitation being that the total capacity of the engine (or engines) remained under 8 litres (488·20 cu. in.). In other directions, designers were left with an absolutely free hand—the usual Certificate of Airworthiness even being dispensed with. To avoid the participation of machines of doubtful characteristics, each competitor had to qualify between April 2 and May 2 by passing successfully the following tests: a flight of 500 km. (311 miles) in a closed circuit at a speed exceeding 300 k.p.h. (186·5 m.p.h.)—against 250 k.p.h. (155·5 m.p.h.) last year. In addition, take‐off and landing had to be performed in less than 500 metres (1,640 ft.) over a “screen” 1 metre (3·28 ft.) high—against 550 metres (1,801 ft.) last year. Actually, the “screen” took the form of two parallel ropes set at the required height and separated by an interval of 50 metres (164 ft.), so as to ensure correct execution of the test. The wind velocity had to be under 6 metres per second (19·7 f.p.s.) during the take‐off and landing tests.

The purpose of this paper is to closely assess the level of business ethics education in one of the Lebanese educational institutions, namely the American University of Science and Technology (AUST) through shedding light on how the Faculty of Business and Economics' curriculum is set to meet the national and regional markets' requirements of sound business education.

Descriptive, analytical and statistical analyses are used in this study.

The study reveals several factors that affect business ethics education at AUST, namely students' ethics literacy and ethical perceptions, students' attitudes towards ethical issues, ethics and personal actions, personal morality, religious and ethical business conducts. This is in addition to the impact of formal business ethics education as implemented in the university's curriculum.

Several insights could be inferred from this study. First, business ethics could be taught if a comprehensive formal and purposeful direction exists in an institution to make students internalize their perception of business ethics. Accordingly, the Faculty of Business and Economics is recommended to provide formal coverage of an ethics chapter in all business fields, and objectively expose the differences in applications as related to culture and national preferences; and third, reinforce the use of case studies on ethics dilemmas and make such studies obligatory for all majors. Another insight that is considered an important outcome of the study is its academic contribution to the few publications found on the subject matter in Lebanon and the region. Its results can be used by Middle Eastern educational institutions to analyze the reported western ethics' know how and practices and perform a series of research projects to address the differences between these two cultures in perception, applicability, sensitivity to beliefs and their influence on the way business is conducted in Lebanon and the surrounding Arab nations. Finally, this paper is an eye opener to the fact that individual's religious entity and beliefs may make a difference in the formation of ethical judgment and decision making. However, further research studies on the latter issue is needed, knowing that Lebanon is considered a mosaic religious community with 18 different official religions.

The findings presented in this research can be used by Middle Eastern as well as by Western academicians, managers, employees, and students as an eye opener to the implications of business ethics education on decision making.

The paper adds to the minimal body of knowledge of business ethics education in the Middle East; and its findings constitute a catalyst for further research on how ethics education enhances students' future decision making in the real world.

Although there is a considerable body of literature regarding the selection of improvement projects, little of it reveals what actually occurs in industry. To answer this question the authors aimed to determine how industry selects Lean and Six Sigma projects in practice.

Practitioners of Lean and Six Sigma were surveyed to ascertain the methods and criteria that are used to select projects as well as their attitudes towards these approaches.

This paper reveals: significant practitioner dissatisfaction with the approaches used; a gap between strategy formulation and portfolio generation; and that organizations generally use subjective or unstructured approaches and seldom apply the approaches that are advocated in the literature.

Improved linkage from strategy to portfolio ought to lead to better project outcomes and longevity of the methodology. There are opportunities for better translation of the state of the art to industrial application.

This paper presents a relatively large sample set (n=74) that reflects practitioner views on the state of practice in selecting Lean and Six Sigma projects and portfolios.

The predominant psychological type among senior police officers is the extraverted‐sensing‐thinking‐judgement type, pragmatic and practical and thus ideally suited to many aspects of police work, according to data presented to 119 Australian senior police officers. The high proportion of extraverted‐thinking‐sensing‐judgement types may explain the common macho‐image of policemen. Low levels of self‐actualisation among police officers may limit honesty, openness, flexibility and concern for the good of the police force and society, as well as contributing to stress, so this aspect must be dealt with.

The imperative to conserve resources and minimize operational expenses has spurred a notable increase in the adoption of lean manufacturing within the context of the circular economy across diverse industries in recent years. However, a notable gap exists in the research landscape, particularly concerning the implementation of lean practices within the pharmaceutical industry to enhance circular economy performance. Addressing this void, this study endeavors to identify and prioritize the pivotal drivers influencing lean manufacturing within the pharmaceutical sector.

The outcome of this rigorous examination highlights that “Continuous Monitoring Process for Sustainable Lean Implementation,” “Management Involvement for Sustainable Implementation” and “Training and Education” emerge as the most consequential drivers. These factors are deemed crucial for augmenting circular economy performance, underscoring the significance of management engagement, training initiatives and a continuous monitoring process in fostering a closed-loop practice within the pharmaceutical industry.

The findings contribute valuable insights for decision-makers aiming to adopt lean practices within a circular economy framework. Specifically, by streamlining the process of developing a robust action plan tailored to the unique needs of the pharmaceutical sector, our study provides actionable guidance for enhancing overall sustainability in the manufacturing processes.

This study represents one of the initial efforts to systematically identify and assess the drivers to LM implementation within the pharmaceutical industry, contributing to the emerging body of knowledge in this area.

THE period from 1884 to 1937 (the events of which are summarized on earlier pages of the pamphlet) may be said to have been exploratory as regards aeronautical science in Australia. Many beginnings had been made in research, in teaching and in manufacture, but, no generally organized growth had occurred. The visible beginnings of the present developed state of the industry and of research may be traced from two sources.

This paper compares and contrasts practice-based perceptions of the research–practice gap in the United States (US) with those in Australia.

The current study extends the work of Tucker and Lowe (2014) by comparing and contrasting their Australian-based findings with evidence from a questionnaire survey and follow-up interviews with senior representatives of 18 US state and national professional accounting associations.

The extent to which academic research informs practice is perceived to be limited, despite the potential for academic research findings to make a significant contribution to management accounting practice. We find similarities as well as differences in the major obstacles to closer engagement in the US and Australia. This comparison, however, leads us to offer a more fundamental explanation of the divide between academic research and practice framed in terms of the relative benefits and costs of academics engaging with practice.

Rather than following conventional approaches to ‘bridging the gap’ by identifying barriers to the adoption of research, we suggest that only after academics have adequate incentives to speak to practice can barriers to a more effective diffusion of their research findings be surmounted.

This study makes three novel contributions to the “relevance literature” in management accounting. First, it adopts a distinct theoretical vantage point to organize, analyze, and interpret empirical evidence. Second, it captures practice-based views about the nature and extent of the divide between research and practice. Third, it provides a foundational assessment of the generalizability of the gap by examining perceptions of it across two different geographic contexts.

This chapter is devoted to sustainable human resource management that leads to sustainable competitiveness. It features the ways human resources can be managed to carry out sustainable goals and the impact of sustainability on employees' attitudes and behaviours. The aim of this study is to explore the complex objectives of sustainability and human resource management and empirically investigate the dynamic relationship between human resources in science and technology and sustainable competitiveness in the case of 35 European countries. Our contribution emphasizes this interrelationship and its causality. For this research, we applied a vector auto-regression (VAR) model, and the Granger causality method to examine the relationship between human resources in science and technology and sustainable competitiveness. A panel data included 314 observations between 2012 and 2021. The panel VAR for analysing the impulse response function was enriched with the 5% and 95%, using Monte Carlo simulations. The research results revealed bidirectional causality in the European countries between human resources in science and technology and sustainable competitiveness. Human resources in science and technology trigger sustainable competitiveness and vice versa. As an element of originality, our study demonstrates that human resources in science and technology contribute to sustainable performance, and, on the other hand, a more competitive and sustainable environment contributes to the development of human resources in science and technology. Thus, the chapter outlines the role of human resources in science and technology with regard to sustainable human resource management (HRM), and how to navigate these objectives so that they can positively influence sustainable competitiveness.