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Article
Publication date: 29 April 2024

Emily Sawe, Naomi Mwai and Lilian Oyieke

The purpose of this study is to examine approaches used by university libraries to enhance the visibility and utilization of research support services (RSSs) among doctoral…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine approaches used by university libraries to enhance the visibility and utilization of research support services (RSSs) among doctoral students and to assess the competencies of library staff in delivering research support services.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used qualitative design approach, purposively sampled 40 librarians (8 university librarians and 32 librarians) in charge of RSSs and use of structured interview.

Findings

The findings of this study revealed three major themes: offline and online strategies, the need for upskilling and professional development programs and proactive empowerment.

Research limitations/implications

This study focused on research support services in chartered public universities in Kenya; private universities were not included.

Practical implications

The need to enhance library staff's ongoing professional development programs, increasing funding to university libraries and proactivity by the libraries to improve the provision and promotion of RSSs to doctoral students in Kenya.

Originality/value

There are limited existing literature in the Kenyan context. This study will fill a knowledge gap and contribute to the literature on academic libraries support and doctoral students experience in Kenyan context.

Details

Digital Library Perspectives, vol. 40 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2059-5816

Keywords

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 26 March 2024

Abstract

Details

Supervising Doctoral Candidates
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83797-051-3

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to ascertain the personal characteristics of a group of successful academic entrepreneurs in a South African university enterprise and the prevalent barriers and enablers to their entrepreneurial endeavour.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors used a Delphi process to identify and rank the characteristics, enablers, barriers and behaviours of entrepreneurial academics, with a Nominal Group Technique applied to establish challenges they encounter managing their enterprise and to propose solutions.

Findings

Perseverance, resilience and innovation are critical personal characteristics, while collaborative networks, efficient research infrastructure and established research competence are essential for success. The university’s support for entrepreneurship is a significant enabler, with unnecessary bureaucracy and poor access to project and general enterprise funding an impediment. Successful academic entrepreneurs have strong leadership, and effective management and communication skills.

Research limitations/implications

The main limitation is the small study participant group drawn from a single university enterprise, which complicates generalisability. The study supported the use of Krueger’s (2009) entrepreneurial intentions model for low- and middle-income country (LMIC) academic entrepreneur investigation but proposed the inclusion of mitigators to entrepreneurial activation to recognise contextual deficiencies and challenges.

Practical implications

Skills-deficient LMIC universities should extensively and directly support their entrepreneurial academics to overcome their contextual deficiencies and challenging environment.

Originality/value

This study contributes to addressing the paucity of academic entrepreneur research in LMIC contexts by identifying LMIC-specific factors that inhibit the entrepreneur’s movement from entrepreneurial intention to entrepreneurial action.

Details

Journal of Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies, vol. 16 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2053-4604

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 September 2024

Sri Utari, Sri Anawati, Argyo Demartoto, Tri Hardian Satiawardana and Novel Adryan Purnomo

Library quality assurance systems are collaborative governances that facilitate the presentation of data on international accreditation of departments, which contains data on…

Abstract

Purpose

Library quality assurance systems are collaborative governances that facilitate the presentation of data on international accreditation of departments, which contains data on services, human resources, library facilities and infrastructure. This research analyzes the supporting and inhibiting factors and the advantages of the library quality assurance system in supporting international accreditation of departments at Sebelas Maret University (UNS) Surakarta, Indonesia using Talcott Persons' theory of structural functionalism.

Design/methodology/approach

Primary data in exploratory research and action research obtained from the Quality Assurance Team at the university level under the Educational Quality Assurance and Development Institute (LPPMP), the Quality Assurance Unit (UPM) at the faculty level and the Quality Control Group (GKM) at the department, librarian and academic community levels. Supporting informants are international assessor practitioners. Data validation using source triangulation, namely information obtained through different sources, and method triangulation through different methods. Data obtained from library studies, observations, Focus Group Discussions (FGD), documentation and interviews with staff, library leaders, lecturers from departments that have and will carry out international accreditation and UNS students and analyzed interactive analysis models, namely data reduction, data presentation and concluding.

Findings

The research results show that the UNS Library quality assurance system facilitates higher education organizations, such as bachelor's, master's and doctoral departments at UNS; search and presentation of international accreditation data. Supporting factors include the availability of digital library systems, online catalogs (UNSLA), e-journal and e-book databases, library websites and library data links for accreditation; facilities and infrastructure consist of indoor-outdoor study rooms; library social media; Self Access Terminal room; facilities for international students; involvement of librarians in international internships/conferences, librarians who have had competency tests and certification; librarians pursuing doctoral degree and support for student interns in system development. Inhibiting factors include the unavailability of programmers and dependence on UNS Information and Communication of Technology Unit. The benefits of the department quality assurance system include accelerating and improving the organization's quality and presentation of international accreditation data for departments at UNS.

Originality/value

This type of qualitative research with an exploratory approach takes library study data, observations and in-depth interviews with library staff and quality assurance of departments. The informants were selected using purposive sampling, which was adjusted to the needs and interests of the research. It also uses the action research method, a collaboration between the quality assurance unit, librarians and academics. Action research is a form of collective self-reflection that involves a series of daily activities, which include the processes of research, diagnosis, planning, implementation, monitoring and establishing the necessary relationships between evaluation and self-development. The research object is something that will be subject to conclusions resulting from something that will be discussed in the research. The object of this research is the quality assurance of the UNS Library. Primary data was obtained from the Quality Assurance Team at the university level under the LPPMP, the Quality Assurance Unit (UPM) at the faculty level and the Quality Control Group (GKM) at the department, librarian and academic community levels. Supporting informants are international assessor practitioners. Data will be collected using observation, in-depth interviews, Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and documentation. To ensure the validity of the data, source triangulation is used, namely, information obtained through different sources, as well as method triangulation through different methods, for example, interviews with observation or FGD. Data analysis using an interactive analysis model, namely data reduction, data presentation and concluding. This research was conducted at the UNS Library, with the research object being all departments at Sebelas Maret University, which have and will undergo international accreditation.

Details

Library Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-5124

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 July 2024

Ismail Kalash

The aim of this research is to examine gender differences in the context of research productivity, research collaboration and academic promotion.

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this research is to examine gender differences in the context of research productivity, research collaboration and academic promotion.

Design/methodology/approach

This research analyzes data related to 863 academics in the accounting and finance departments in Turkish universities by using OLS, Binary Logistic, Ordered Probit and Multinomial Probit Regressions.

Findings

The findings show that female academics have in overall a representation ratio of 32%, and that there are no significant differences regarding the opportunities for female academics to be employed in public compared to private, and in high-rank compared to low-rank universities. The results also indicate that female academics have lower research impact compared to male academics, and that this difference is more pronounced for professors, and in universities with low ratio of female representation, and also in public universities. In addition, female academics engage more in research collaboration and are less likely to hold the academic title of full professor than male academics.

Practical implications

The findings of this study provide significant signals about the need for improving gender policies that mitigate the conditions adversely affecting research productivity and impact by considering the supporting circumstances for female academics and improving the representation ratio, which also can play vital role in reducing discrimination and bias and contribute to better research and scientific environment.

Originality/value

To the author’s knowledge, this article is the first to examine gender effect regarding research productivity, research collaboration and academic promotion in Turkish universities.

Details

Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2050-7003

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 December 2022

Angeliki Garoufali and Emmanouel Garoufallou

With the technological innovation dominating higher education, the university libraries, as physical spaces, continue to play a crucial role in connecting students with knowledge…

Abstract

Purpose

With the technological innovation dominating higher education, the university libraries, as physical spaces, continue to play a crucial role in connecting students with knowledge. The emergence of the “Learning Commons” serves as a catalyst in the design of library spaces, renewing libraries’ roles and missions and making them popular to Millennials for new reasons. This study aims to record Greek librarians' views on the current situation in Greek academic libraries regarding physical space design, services provided and the existence of the “Learning Commons” model characteristics.

Design/methodology/approach

This study was conducted through an online survey structured questionnaire (closed-ended, five-point Likert scale, multiple-choice and statements questions). This study population comprised librarians working in 37 academic institutions and colleges. The collected data were subjected to descriptive statistical analysis. The research questions were answered using variables creation and the tests, t-test, ANOVA and Kruskal–Wallis. The groups of questions were tested for their reliability using the Cronbach's alpha coefficient.

Findings

In total, 186 librarians responded to this study. The responses revealed that participants were willing and ready to accept and support a different approach to academic library physical spaces use, according to the shared learning spaces model. However, this requires changes in the organization's vision, further growth and evolution. Although recently most Greek academic libraries have made significant progress in developing their services to function as information and digital hubs, they do not function as learning collaborative hubs, since the “Learning Commons” model is not reflected in their buildings.

Originality/value

The creation of new academic libraries according to the “common” model is a rapidly evolving issue that affects Greek libraries. This paper highlights the characteristics of libraries that should be adopted in the modern era, the new roles of academic librarians and the importance of an appropriate design of the physical space to achieve optimal learning outcomes. At the same time, this paper is one of the few that illustrates librarians', and not users', perceptions of these changes. This paper is a good research example, and the methodology for measuring this type of context could be used by other future research approaches in other countries.

Article
Publication date: 16 May 2024

Fouzia Sadaf, Shermeen Bano and Rahla Rahat

The central aim of this study is to advance understanding of the influence of university practices and structures on shaping female academics’ paths to reach the position of…

Abstract

Purpose

The central aim of this study is to advance understanding of the influence of university practices and structures on shaping female academics’ paths to reach the position of professor in Pakistan.

Design/methodology/approach

About 30 qualitative, semi-structured interviews were conducted with female professors to examine key enablers and barriers to their promotion trajectories towards reaching the position of professor in public universities in Punjab, Pakistan.

Findings

This study presents an analysis of promotion biographies and has identified a combination of personal, interpersonal and structural factors as enablers and barriers to the promotion trajectory from junior academic positions to the level of professorship among female professors in public universities in Pakistan. Three main kinds of promotion trajectories were identified, which represent three different configurations of elements relating to (1) personal credentials and strategies to manage delays, (2) workplace relations and (3) university promotion systems.

Originality/value

The findings of this research may be helpful in terms of (1) offering ideas regarding support for women who are making career decisions and achieving inspiring successful careers; (2) informing university governance to address the barriers that curtail women’s accomplishment of their career goals and (3) devising/improving strategic plans to address the entrenched gender disparity in academic leadership and broader society.

Details

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-7149

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 11 April 2024

Ana Isabel Gaspar Pacheco, João Ferreira, Jorge Simoes, Pedro Mota Veiga and Marina Dabic

The commercialization of research produced by universities constitutes a core facet of academic entrepreneurship (AE). Academic literature reveals the need to shed light on…

Abstract

Purpose

The commercialization of research produced by universities constitutes a core facet of academic entrepreneurship (AE). Academic literature reveals the need to shed light on entrepreneurial processes in higher education institutions (HEIs). This study intends to fill this gap by researching the mechanisms for facilitating AE and the variables that can moderate the relationship between such mechanisms and AE in Portuguese HEIs.

Design/methodology/approach

Our research model aims to assess the mechanisms of academic entrepreneurship (AE) within a sample of 125 Portuguese public higher education institutions (HEIs). To test our research hypotheses, we employed a structural equation model (SEM) using the partial least squares (PLS) method. Additionally, our evaluation examines the potential moderating effects of incubator programs, support initiatives, and proof-of-concept programs (PoCs). Our research model seeks to evaluate the mechanisms for facilitating AE and explore the effects of including incubator programs, support initiatives, and PoCs as moderators. The seven variables (Research mobilization, Unconventionality, Industry collaboration, University policies, Incubator programs and support initiatives, Proof-of-concept programs, and academic entrepreneurship) were measured using a 7-point Likert scale.

Findings

The results revealed that different drivers of AE influence the creation and development of entrepreneurial activities. Our findings also show the moderating effects of incubator programs, support initiatives, and proof-of-concept programs on AE. We find that incubator programs, other support initiatives, and PoCs maintain a moderating effect on AE and benefit their respective HEIs.

Research limitations/implications

The study examines only the Portuguese HEI context. Therefore, generalizing these results necessitates reservations. However, the responses came from various actors in HEIs, from different academic backgrounds and research interests. This makes the results more generalizable. Limitations are evident in external validity, given that we gathered the data over a relatively short period.

Practical implications

Observed factors are explored to gain a deeper understanding of their influence on the mechanisms of AE. The implications arise from the new perspective presented and the methodology used to identify mechanisms capable of fostering AE. We hope this research will encourage other researchers to study this topic further.

Social implications

the engagement of universities at the global level should be emphasised in future policy. While universities in innovation systems often have a local focus, their engagement in innovation ecosystems transcends the boundaries of geographic locations.

Originality/value

PoCs had a significant positive moderating effect on the impact of research mobilization and university policies on AE. Thus, we find interactions between universities and industry boost AE. This study demonstrates how AE benefits HEIs by extending orientation towards mobilizing research, unconventional approaches, cooperation with industry, and university policy implementation. We thus advocate a new approach, demonstrating the influence that the mobility of research, unconventionality, industry collaboration, and university policies hold over AE.

Details

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, vol. 30 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2554

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 October 2023

Kaja Indergård and Geir Karsten Hansen

The purpose of this paper is to map and describe the activities taking place in the academic workplace. It considers whether academic work is something completely different from…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to map and describe the activities taking place in the academic workplace. It considers whether academic work is something completely different from traditional knowledge work and identifies differences and similarities between the two.

Design/methodology/approach

The data was collected through in-depth interviews with thirteen academics from different disciplines at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology within a case study approach. A document analysis of the university’s disciplines was carried out in advance of the interviews.

Findings

Four important similarities between knowledge work and academic work and three distinctive features of academic work were identified. Balancing the need for interaction and concentration is most important for both knowledge work and academic work, and the most prominent differences are the academics’ constant alternation between supervision, teaching, concentration work and administrative tasks, as well as some academics’ close links to practice. Academic work is not completely different from knowledge work, and learning from experiences from other sectors can be valuable when designing workplaces for academic staff. It is necessary to understand the activities taking place in the academic workplace and at the same time plan for future flexibility.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the research on workplace design for academic staff to better understand the characteristics and variations of academic work and differences in academic cultures and traditions. This will contribute to a better understanding of how workplace design, work processes, technology and how the institution is organised can support the university’s visions and goals.

Details

Journal of Corporate Real Estate , vol. 26 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-001X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 22 July 2024

Saheed Abiola Hamzat, Funke Abosede Ayeni and Jacob Oloruntoba Kutu

Polytechnics in Nigeria are conventional institutions where academic board records are being managed in paper form. It has been observed that accessing these academic board…

Abstract

Purpose

Polytechnics in Nigeria are conventional institutions where academic board records are being managed in paper form. It has been observed that accessing these academic board records is difficult due to factors associated with the absence of preservation techniques and lack of clear-cut conservation practices. This study, therefore, aims to examine the preservation techniques and conservation practices adopted for the management of academic board records in polytechnics in South-West Nigeria.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopted a qualitative method with the population comprising 54 records management personnel enumerated in the four selected polytechnics in South-West Nigeria. Triangulation method (questionnaire, interview and observation checklist) was used for data collection. The responses were analysed with descriptive statistics and thematic analysis.

Findings

Findings revealed that photocopying, binding and use of insecticides were the most rated preservation techniques adopted. The security and shelving of academic board records to allow for free flow of air were the most available conservation practices, whereas staff training was not adequately available. The topmost rated constraints were non-challant attitude of personnel in-charge, insufficient funds and inadequate infrastructure.

Research limitations/implications

This study concluded that preservation and conservation practices are vital in the management of academic board records in polytechnics in South-West Nigeria. For efficient and effective management of academic board records, modern-day preservation and conservation practices need to be adopted.

Originality/value

This paper fulfils an identified need to study how preservation and conservation practices adopted for the management of academic board records in Nigerian polytechnics.

Details

Records Management Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0956-5698

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 7000