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Article
Publication date: 31 October 2017

Breda Kenny and Isabel Rossiter

The purpose of this paper is to identify the entrepreneurial learning and support needs of older unemployed, highlighting the barriers that need to be addressed, and to explore…

1210

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify the entrepreneurial learning and support needs of older unemployed, highlighting the barriers that need to be addressed, and to explore the impact of a tailored entrepreneurship training programme.

Design/methodology/approach

An interpretivist philosophical standpoint is adopted with an action research approach to engage key informants to design, implement and evaluate the programme. Focus groups and interviews with 132 older unemployed individuals and 50 stakeholders across six countries were conducted as well as pre- and post-programme evaluations and surveys with 55 programme participants across three countries.

Findings

This research provides a deeper understanding of the entrepreneurial learning and support needs of older unemployed.

Research limitations/implications

The small sample size of participants measured using a hybrid measure of ESE is a limitation.

Practical implications

For entrepreneurship educators, the components of designing and delivering an entrepreneurship programme for older unemployed are identified. For enterprise and unemployment support agencies, it provides evidence of the initial and ongoing support needs for starting and running a business in later life.

Originality/value

A framework specific to older unemployed individuals turning towards self-employment or entrepreneurship is proposed and tested in this paper. The framework proposes that individual and contextual antecedents influence the decision to become self-employed in later life and that the training, support and entrepreneurial experience helps to overcome barriers and shapes individual and societal outcomes.

Details

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, vol. 24 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2554

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 April 2015

Breda Kenny

A career at the professional, elite level in sports does not last forever. One way or another, the day comes when players have to hang up their boots and move on, but to what…

1787

Abstract

Purpose

A career at the professional, elite level in sports does not last forever. One way or another, the day comes when players have to hang up their boots and move on, but to what? Some stay in the sport as managers or coaches, become broadcast announcers, or use their name recognition to pitch a product. However, for many their future opportunities lie in entrepreneurship. The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of the entrepreneurial learning needs of professional rugby players preparing for a career transition and asks the following questions: What are the specific needs of professional athletes in relation to entrepreneurial learning?, and, what are the key elements of designing an entrepreneurship programme to meet these needs?

Design/methodology/approach

The author adopted an interpretivist philosophical standpoint for this research, with an inductive research approach to explore various components of a tailored entrepreneurship training programme called the “Certificate in Enterprise Potential” (CEP) using the process of emergent inquiry. This programme was designed specifically for professional rugby athletes in Ireland. In gathering the data for the case study, the author pursued established principles of data collection, and used multiple sources of evidence.

Findings

The findings provide evidence of the entrepreneurial learning needs of professional athletes in career transition and identifies the key elements to be considered when designing an entrepreneurship programme to meet these needs. The findings are presented under the headings context, objectives and outcomes, audience, content, pedagogy, assessment and evaluation.

Research limitations/implications

There are multiple implications from this study. For entrepreneurship educators, the various components of designing a tailored entrepreneurship programme for professional athletes are identified and outlined. For researchers, it opens the door for research with other sports people from different contexts. For professional athletes and professionals working with athletes, it provides evidence of a non-athletic and an entrepreneurial career transition model that builds on the player’s social identity, social networks and taps into an existing HEI entrepreneurship ecosystem. The research was confined to a single case study for a specific target audience and needs replication with other cohorts in order to reduce the chance of these findings being unique to one single case.

Originality/value

This paper focuses on the career transition and mid-career aspect of entrepreneurship education and in particular the career transition needs of the professional athletes. These findings provide a deeper understanding of mid-career entrepreneurship education, specifically in the contexts of professional athletes and HEI’s. Many athletes are forced to end their sporting careers early and with little hope of a meaningful or alternative long-term career options. This paper goes some way in addressing this concern.

Details

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, vol. 21 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2554

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 August 2011

Breda Kenny and John Fahy

This study aims to identify and examine the relationship between network resources and international performance of high tech small to medium‐sized enterprises (HTSME) in the…

3325

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to identify and examine the relationship between network resources and international performance of high tech small to medium‐sized enterprises (HTSME) in the telecommunications industry in Ireland. The network resource construct for this paper comprises three dimensions: network human capital resources, network resource combination, and information sharing.

Design/methodology/approach

Empirical research was carried out using a mail survey in which 154 firms completed and returned the questionnaire. Three hypotheses were analysed using structural equations modelling using LISREL.

Findings

The study's main finding suggests a positive relationship between a firm's network human capital resources and international performance. However, no support was found for the relationship between network resources combinations, information sharing and international performance.

Research limitations/implications

This study is cross‐sectional, confined to a single industry and focused on the role of networks in the HTSME context only. Results from this study provide policy makers and practitioners with additional insights into specific network resource‐based factors that are associated with international performance for HTSMEs. Such an assessment would help identify specific areas of relationship strengths and weaknesses in terms of the level of human capital available to firms, the combinations of complementary resources across firms and the extent and level of information exchange between firms.

Practical implications

The paper concludes with a discussion of these findings and the overall implications for policy makers and managers. Specifically, it is necessary to identify and review the types of resources that are critical to the international performance of firms and develop and implement business strategies building on those resources in order to enhance the likelihood of international success.

Originality/value

This study offers a multiple dimensionality to the network resource concept by measuring the direct effect of the type of network resources in terms of human capital, information and network resource combinations on international performance of HTSMEs in the telecommunications industry. These findings advance network research by highlighting the trade‐offs that networks impose on firms that seek to manage and leverage their network resources.

Details

Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, vol. 18 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1462-6004

Keywords

Content available
Article
Publication date: 9 August 2011

Margaret Fletcher and Sharon Loane

1061

Abstract

Details

Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, vol. 18 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1462-6004

Content available
Article
Publication date: 13 April 2015

Antonella La Rocca

1052

Abstract

Details

IMP Journal, vol. 9 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2059-1403

Article
Publication date: 27 May 2014

Erik de Waard, Henk W. Volberda and Joseph Soeters

Crisis management entails among other things developing organizational systems that are capable of reacting to unpredictable and different types of crises. It also involves…

Abstract

Purpose

Crisis management entails among other things developing organizational systems that are capable of reacting to unpredictable and different types of crises. It also involves designing cohesive operational elements to deal with the local dynamics of an actual crisis situation. This challenge of responsiveness – where organizations simultaneously need to react to change demands of different task environments – has hardly been investigated in management theory. The purpose of this paper is to initiate to shed more light on this blind spot.

Design/methodology/approach

Modular organizing and organizational sensing are introduced as key drivers of organizational responsiveness. Based on a large-scale survey among 1,200 senior officers the study investigates how these two variables have influenced the responsiveness of the Netherlands armed forces for crisis response deployment.

Findings

The findings indicate that the level of modularization is an important facilitator of organizational responsiveness. Organizational systems that are made up of semi-autonomous work groups are in a better position to simultaneously live up to the change demands of different environmental levels than organizations that follow a fine-grained modularization approach.

Originality/value

It uses the military crisis response organization as an exemplary case for project-based organzations in general to take advantage of.

Details

International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, vol. 7 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1753-8378

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 31 May 2013

Sjanett de Geus, Greg Richards and Vera Toepoel

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the relationship between subjective experience of an event, motivational style for participating and satisfaction afterwards. It proposes…

1208

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the relationship between subjective experience of an event, motivational style for participating and satisfaction afterwards. It proposes that subjective experience of positive affect acts as a mediator between motivation and satisfaction.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper opted for a quantitative survey among 285 respondents asking about their motivation to participate in celebrating Queen's Day, a Dutch national event around the birthday of the Queen Mother. Their satisfaction levels and subjective experience of the event were collected after the event. The (mediation) hypotheses were tested through a series of regression analyses.

Findings

The paper provides empirical insights about how subjective experience mediates the effect between motivational style and satisfaction.

Originality/value

This paper fulfils an identified need to study the effects of subjective experience in events.

Details

International Journal of Event and Festival Management, vol. 4 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1758-2954

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 May 2018

Jenny Sok, Robert Jan Blomme, Melanie De Ruiter, Debbie Tromp and X.D. Lub

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between home-to-work spillover, measured as positive and negative home–work interference (HWI) and turnover intentions, as well as…

2055

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between home-to-work spillover, measured as positive and negative home–work interference (HWI) and turnover intentions, as well as the mediating role of perceptions concerning training and development practices.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected among 418 respondents who were working at two business schools. A confirmative structural equation modeling analysis was conducted for the analysis.

Findings

As expected, positive HWI showed negative relationships with turnover intentions, while negative HWI related positively to turnover intentions. Training and development practices mediated the relationship between positive HWI and turnover intentions; the mediation effect was stronger for women than it was for men. Training and development practices did not mediate the relationship between negative HWI and turnover intentions, however.

Practical implications

The outcomes suggest that helping employees to balance their work and home lives can be beneficial for employees, as well as for employers in terms of reducing turnover intentions.

Originality/value

As contributions, additional insight into the relationship between positive and negative non-work factors and turnover intentions by examining the ways in which both positive as well as negative HWI are related to turnover intentions. Furthermore, the research considers the mediating role played by perceptions concerning human resource (HR) practices, and particularly training and development practices as perceived by the employee, in the relationship between positive and negative HWI and turnover intentions.

Details

European Journal of Training and Development, vol. 42 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-9012

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 April 2022

Parul Malik

The paper examines the role of learning organization in enhancing employees’ proactive work behavior. Furthermore, drawing on the conjectures of broaden-and-build and conservation…

1028

Abstract

Purpose

The paper examines the role of learning organization in enhancing employees’ proactive work behavior. Furthermore, drawing on the conjectures of broaden-and-build and conservation of resources theory, this study tested the mediating role of employee resilience on the relationship between learning organization and proactive work behavior.

Design/methodology/approach

The data for this study were collected over two measurement periods (six months apart) via a structured questionnaire among Indian IT/ITES (Information Technology Enabled Services) organizational employees. The study utilized confirmatory factor analysis to test the proposed measurement model. Additionally, the study employed Preacher and Hayes PROCESS macro to investigate the mediating effect of employee resilience.

Findings

The study results demonstrated that employee’s perceptions of learning organization (measured at time 1) positively predict proactive work behavior (measured at time 2), with the relationship being mediated by employee resilience (measured at time 1).

Practical implications

The study asserts that organizational practitioners who aim to boost their employees’ proactive behavior need to first invest in nurturing learning organization and focus on building their employees’ resilient capability. As a matter of fact, despite focusing on alleviating the adverse events and chiefly emphasizing on stress management, the organizational practitioners should concentrate on building their employees’ resilient capability.

Originality/value

The present study explores the links between learning organization, employee resilience and proactive work behavior. This study tested a cohesive research model to investigate the role of both the contextual and individual resilient capability in enhancing employee proactivity at work. Furthermore, the study unfolds the underlying mechanism between the study variables by exploring the mediating role of employee resilience.

Details

Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Administration, vol. 15 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1757-4323

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 August 2022

Martha Cecilia Méndez Prada, Lydia María López Barraza, Gertrudis Yackeline Ziritt Trejo and Rafael Roberto Ruiz Escorcia

The purpose of this study is to validate an explanatory structural equation model for the evaluation of territorial branding tourism policies for local development and its…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to validate an explanatory structural equation model for the evaluation of territorial branding tourism policies for local development and its application in cities in Mexico and Colombia.

Design/methodology/approach

A sample was calculated for finite populations of residents in the municipalities of Girón Santander, Colombia and El Fuerte, Sinaloa, Mexico, of 125 individuals for each locality, in total, 250 individuals. The study includes three latent variables, which in turn constitute three models (Model 1: State and Public Policies; Model 2: Territorial Brand for Development; Model 3: Local Development) to explain the multiple relationships with the observable variables. The results were analyzed by using IBM AMOS software (SPSSS Extension), using the maximum likelihood method.

Findings

Multiple relationships between the variables were evident, with excellent to acceptable indices. Model 1 (CMIN/DF = 1.742; CFI = 0.948; RMSEA = 0.057; PClose = 0.059) Model 2 (CMIN/DF = 1.528; CFI = 0.921; RMSEA = 0.073; PClose = 0.044). Model 3 (CMIN/DF = 3.210; CFI = 0.951); RMSEA = 0.057; PClose = 0.049), obtaining an adequate fit. The correlations between the variables reveal that the tourism policy is weak in both contexts, in its implementation in terms of the participation of residents in decision-making with respect to the management of the policy and in the lack of education and training of collaborators/workers to provide a better tourism service.

Practical implications

It was possible to establish that the measurement model is applicable in the municipalities of the two countries by considering the similarities in tourism policies, as well as the differences (social, cultural, political and economic), but with a need for explicit articulation between the pillars of the territorial brand with the legitimized public policy.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the generation of new knowledge in relation to territorial branding from residents, within the framework of a tourism policy, allowing to establish its limitations in terms of implementation.

Details

International Journal of Tourism Cities, vol. 9 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2056-5607

Keywords

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