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1 – 10 of over 6000Marit Bøe and Elsa Kristiansen
In view of the expanding global interest in leadership learning and development programmes for centre leaders, this study aims to investigate how an early childhood education…
Abstract
Purpose
In view of the expanding global interest in leadership learning and development programmes for centre leaders, this study aims to investigate how an early childhood education leadership programme can enhance Norwegian centre leaders’ learning and development as a network professional learning community (PLC) by way of Schön’s reflective model, the hall of mirrors.
Design/methodology/approach
In this qualitative case study, we interviewed four centre leaders, the owner of the centres and a facilitator and/or coach from the local work and competence centre for inclusive work who was leading the leadership programme.
Findings
The findings demonstrate three aspects of the hall of mirrors that enhanced the centre leaders as a network PLC: engaging in collective inquiry towards shared visions and values, enhancing professionalism through distributed leadership and cultivating a trusting learning climate.
Research limitations/implications
Data were collected in a single smaller municipality in Norway and therefore may not be generalisable to other areas.
Practical and social implications
The findings can be used to further discuss how early childhood education and care (ECEC) leadership development programmes can be employed to establish and sustain professional leadership teams and professional learning communities.
Originality/value
As there are parallels between the leadership programme and the workplace and the programme promoted a network PLC, this study contributes to existing knowledge by offering a transformative reflective model for leadership learning and change through the reconceptualisation of the hall of mirrors.
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Bingcheng Liu, Junyou Song and Wei Geng
This study aims to enhance an enterprise’s private cloud services by optimally determining the ownership of cloud computing resources and responsibility for maintenance and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to enhance an enterprise’s private cloud services by optimally determining the ownership of cloud computing resources and responsibility for maintenance and operations. The core objective is to identify the most cost-effective private cloud deployment model at the intersection of technology and business considerations.
Design/methodology/approach
This study evaluates three ownership and responsibility models, each encompassing decisions related to candidate data center locations, resource provisioning, and demand placements. Drawing from the cloud computing literature, these models are referred to as deployment models. The research formulates a private cloud deployment model selection problem and introduces an established Lagrangian-relaxation-based optimization approach, combined with a novel greedy relieving-pooling heuristic, to facilitate model selection.
Findings
This study identifies the optimal deployment model for a representative instance using real test-bed data from the US, demonstrating the private cloud deployment model selection problem. Various numerical examples are analyzed to explore the influence of environmental parameters. Generally, the virtual PC model is optimal for low demand arrival rates and resource requirements, while the on-premises PC model is preferable for higher values of these parameters. Additionally, the virtual PC model is found to be optimal when enroute latency coefficients are large.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature by formulating an optimization problem that integrates performance, financial, and assurance metrics for enterprises. The introduction of a solution approach enables enterprises to make informed decisions regarding ownership and responsibility design. The study effectively bridges the gap between academic research and industry demands from a business perspective.
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Badr Eddine Karoui and Wafi Chtourou
The purpose of this paper is to determine how knowledge distance, which encompasses cognitive and geographic distance, influences efficiency-centered and novelty-centered business…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to determine how knowledge distance, which encompasses cognitive and geographic distance, influences efficiency-centered and novelty-centered business model reconfiguration (BMR), and the moderating role of tie strength.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors analyze a sample of 132 Tunisian incumbent firms by multiple hierarchical regressions.
Findings
First, the effect of knowledge distance on novelty-centered BMR may differ depending on whether the firm introduces novelty within or outside its organizational boundaries. Specifically, the authors introduce two new types of novelty-centered BMR: intra-novelty and extra-novelty, which respectively take into account whether the reconfigured activities are governed within or outside the focal firm’s boundaries. Second, cognitive distance has an inverted U-shaped effect on efficiency-centered and intra-novelty-centered BMR. Third, tie strength has a moderating role, with varying effects depending on the type of BMR pursued.
Practical implications
This study provides guidance for managers on structuring alliances and collaborations when pursuing BMR. It provides recommendations on partner characteristics, as well as relationship tie strength, that are most beneficial for different types of BMR.
Originality/value
This paper answers the call for research on how knowledge obtained from distant sources can contribute to BMR. Additionally, the paper introduces a previously absent distinction in the BMR literature. The findings suggest that studying the antecedents of BMR should not be limited to the level of design themes but also encompass the level of design elements such as governance.
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Oscar Sigauke, Samson Mutsagondo and Munyika Sibanda
Archival institutions must make their holdings and services known to the public to ensure increased usage. It is the obligation of archival institutions to adopt strategies to…
Abstract
Purpose
Archival institutions must make their holdings and services known to the public to ensure increased usage. It is the obligation of archival institutions to adopt strategies to market their services to increase the usage of their holdings. Therefore, this study aims to assess the National Archives of Zimbabwe’s (NAZ) decentralisation drive as a strategy to market its archival services.
Design/methodology/approach
The multiple case study research design, which is interpretive and qualitative, was used for the study. The study used interviews, questionnaires and document review as data collection tools. The collected data were presented, analysed and discussed using the thematic data analysis approach.
Findings
Findings revealed that the NAZ decentralised provincial records centres were actively involved in the marketing of archival services offered by the NAZ. The study also established that the decentralised provincial records centres perform activities such as records surveys, training, oral history, issuance of brochures, guided tours and career guidance, which increase their interactions with communities they serve. The decentralised offices took advantage of these interactions to market archival services offered by the NAZ.
Originality/value
The study illustrated that decentralisation of archival institutions and services to the lower tiers of government is a powerful strategy for the marketing of archival services. Therefore, there is need for archival institutions to adopt or enhance the use of this strategy to increase the usage of archives.
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Jessica Rodríguez-Pereira, Helena Ramalhinho and Paula Sarrà
The planning of massive vaccination campaigns often falls to nongovernmental organizations that have to face the critical challenge of vaccinating the largest number of people in…
Abstract
Purpose
The planning of massive vaccination campaigns often falls to nongovernmental organizations that have to face the critical challenge of vaccinating the largest number of people in the shortest time. This study aims to provide an easy tool for minimizing the duration of mass vaccination campaigns in rural and remote areas of developing countries.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents a linear mathematical model that combines location, scheduling and routing decisions that allows determining where to locate the vaccination centers, as well as the schedule/route that each medical team must follow to meet the target demand in the shortest time possible. In addition, the paper proposes an heuristic approach that can be integrated in a spreadsheet.
Findings
As the numerical experiments show, the proposed heuristic provides good solutions in a short time. Due to its simplicity and flexibility, the proposed approach allows decision-makers to analyze and evaluate several possible scenarios for decision-making by simply playing with input parameters.
Social implications
The integration of the heuristic approach in a spreadsheet provides a simple and efficient tool to help decision-makers while avoiding the need for large investments in information systems infrastructure by user organizations.
Originality/value
Motivated by a real-life problem and different from previous studies, the objective of the planning is to reduce the length of the vaccination campaigns with the available resources and ensure a target coverage instead of planning for minimizing costs or maximizing coverage. Furthermore, for helping implementation to practitioners, the heuristic can be solved in a spreadsheet.
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Mohammad A. Hassanain and Ibrahim Al-Suwaiti
This paper seeks to establish design quality indicators (DQIs) that can be utilized for assessing the design of community centers, with an emphasis on the technical, functional…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to establish design quality indicators (DQIs) that can be utilized for assessing the design of community centers, with an emphasis on the technical, functional, and behavioral performance domains.
Design/methodology/approach
A comprehensive literature review resulted in identifying 79 DQIs for community centers. A three round Delphi evaluation approach was utilized to rate the importance of the DQIs through their relative importance index (RII) values. The assessment of the DQIs involved a diverse group of stakeholders including facilities managers, architects/engineers (A/Es), community centers’ staff, and regular visitors of community centers.
Findings
The majority of the established DQIs were considered to be either “Very Important” or “Important”.
Practical implications
The established DQIs can be utilized to identify best practices in the design of community centers and benchmark the performance of different community centers.
Originality/value
The design quality of community centers could significantly impact the community's quality of life and user experience. The development of DQIs provides for enhanced accountability and improved service delivery for the communities they serve. This enables community centers to be more effective, efficient, and responsive to the needs of the users they support.
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Flexibility in the workplace is increasingly considered an important aspect of human resource strategy aimed at attracting and retaining a high-quality workforce. The purpose of…
Abstract
Purpose
Flexibility in the workplace is increasingly considered an important aspect of human resource strategy aimed at attracting and retaining a high-quality workforce. The purpose of this study is to explore the direct relationships between both employee- and employer-centered flexible work arrangements and turnover intentions, specifically focusing on Generation Z employees. In addition, this study also examines the mediating role of supervisor support and total rewards in these relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a quantitative research design using a cross-sectional survey method to gather data from employees born from 1995 across three industries – logistics, retail sales, and manufacturing. Partial least-squares structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. The survey was conducted online, ensuring a diverse geographical spread and adherence to the representativeness of Generation Z within these sectors.
Findings
Contrary to existing literature, the findings reveal no direct correlation between flexible working arrangements (FWAs) and turnover intentions in this demographic. Instead, the results highlight the significant mediating roles of perceived supervisor support and total rewards. Specifically, these factors were found to influence turnover intentions in relation to the availability of employee-centered FWAs. The findings provide theoretical and practical implications, suggesting an adaptation of human resource strategies to better align with the preferences and expectations of Generation Z in the workplace.
Originality/value
In contrast to existing literature, this study examines the relationship between the availability of two different types of flexible work arrangements (employee- and employer-centered) and turnover intentions, specifically among Generation Z employees. In addition, this research introduces mediation analysis to investigate the roles of perceived supervisor support and total rewards – constructs that have been rarely considered in the context of these relationships.
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Vijaypal Poonia, Rakhee Kulshrestha, Kuldip Singh Sangwan and Shivankur Sharma
This paper aims at developing a multi-objective mathematical model of circular economy that integrates key concept of leasing as a strategy in addition to reuse, refurbishing…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims at developing a multi-objective mathematical model of circular economy that integrates key concept of leasing as a strategy in addition to reuse, refurbishing, primary recycling, secondary recycling and disposal.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper proposes multi-objective fuzzy mixed integer linear programming mathematical model considering multi-product, multi-echelon and multi-capacitated concepts of the circular economy. The three objectives of the proposed model, namely, economic, environmental and social are solved simultaneously using constraint approach to obtain balanced trade-off between the objective functions. The model is validated by solving a case study from the literature. The proposed model is made pragmatic for industrial application by considering multi-external suppliers multi-customer zones, multi-disassembly centers, multi-collection centers and multi-refurbishing centers and accounting for purchasing, processing, transportation, set-up costs and capacity constraints at the same time.
Findings
The results show that the leasing of the products improves the economic function in addition to the known environmental improvements. The proposed model also shows that the circular economy can generate the jobs for the unskilled people at different locations.
Research limitations/implications
The proposed model can be further improved by considering the non-linearity due to economy of scale at various centers and in transportation. The model can be further extended to make it multi-period model.
Practical implications
The proposed model of circular economy can be used by the organizations as a policy tool to decide the optimum number of collection centers, disassembly centers, refurbishing centers, recycling centers and disposal centers and their optimum locations and allocations. The organizations can also trade-off among economic, environmental and social benefits of their proposed decisions in circular economy.
Originality/value
The originality of the proposed mathematical model is consideration of leasing as a strategy to have better control over the supply chain for circularity; considering the training of unskilled people for backward supply chain jobs and accounting for primary recycling and secondary recycling separately for economical computation.
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Jean Robert Kala Kamdjoug, Serge-Lopez Wamba-Taguimdje and Martin Tchoukoua
This research paper aims to explore the added value of knowledge management (KM) and its antecedents for innovation and organizational performance (OP) in marginal healthcare…
Abstract
Purpose
This research paper aims to explore the added value of knowledge management (KM) and its antecedents for innovation and organizational performance (OP) in marginal healthcare organizations.
Design/methodology/approach
Using insights from the resource-based view and knowledge-based theory of the firm, the model explains the effects of technology capabilities (TC) and organizational culture (OC) on the KM process, process innovation (PIN), administrative innovation (AIN) and OP. The authors used partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to analyze data collected from 168 healthcare practitioners in Cameroon using a survey.
Findings
The authors reveal that TC and OC positively impact some KM components. Knowledge sharing (KS), knowledge acquisition (KA) and responsiveness to knowledge (RK) influence PIN, while only PIN and KA influence OP. FsQCA provided several configurations that lead to high OP within healthcare centers. As a result, the results are adaptable to any healthcare center that wishes to set up one or more KM processes.
Research limitations/implications
Given that the results will help the health workforce make concerted decisions about medical care, the authors contribute significantly to the definition and optimization of KM in healthcare by implementing various processes and policies to ensure the continued existence of high-quality and outstanding healthcare systems. The KM propositions will enable healthcare centers to: (1) improve the quality of patient care through collegiality in medical practice; (2) optimize processes in the patient care chain; and (3) leverage knowledge gained though knowledge sharing among the medical team. The propositions open up avenues for future research in addition to providing practical implications for healthcare center practitioners.
Originality/value
This study sheds new empirical light on the relationships between KM antecedents and processes, innovation and OP in healthcare centers. This research is one of the few to examine the relationship between TC, OC, KM processes, innovation and OP in developing countries. This paper aims to fill this gap and inform future research concerning KM in the healthcare sector. Further, this study goes beyond testing the PLS-SEM approach's hypotheses by applying fsQCA to provide practical and comprehensive knowledge on how to increase the efficiency of a healthcare center through KM.
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Trade centers are operationally run by a property manager as a delegate of the property owner. The dimensions of service quality (SERVQUAL), which include tangibles, assurance…
Abstract
Purpose
Trade centers are operationally run by a property manager as a delegate of the property owner. The dimensions of service quality (SERVQUAL), which include tangibles, assurance, empathy, reliability and responsiveness, are vital to be implemented as the duties of property managers when providing service to tenants to maintain tenant satisfaction and property reputation. This study aims to understand the effects of the SERVQUAL dimensions, the role of property management and the quality of rental value on tenant satisfaction and property reputation.
Design/methodology/approach
The sample was gathered using the purposive sampling technique with the criteria of being a tenant and kiosk owner in trade center properties in Surabaya. Data were gathered using questionnaires, from which 100 respondents were acquired. It was then analyzed using the partial least square structural equation model (SEM) in the SmartPLS 3.0 program to test the hypothesis.
Findings
The results of this study prove that the SERVQUAL dimensions – assurance, empathy and responsiveness – significantly influence tenant satisfaction with the mediating variable of the role of property management. Moreover, the SERVQUAL dimensions – empathy, reliability and responsiveness – significantly influence property reputation with the mediating variable of the role of property management.
Practical implications
Property managers are expected to proactively map out different service measures related to the dimension of satisfaction by conducting service training programs for their employees. In fact, in the post-pandemic period, property managers require new marketing strategies, such as leaseback, to effectively carry out renovations of the trade center’s public facilities and restructure the tenant mix.
Originality/value
Trade centers as trading areas experience management limitations because of the prohibition of mass gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in a limited number of onsite trading. Tenants who have entered into a long-term contract experience loss and rely on the aid of property management to survive. The role and quality of service of property management influence tenants’ satisfaction post-COVID-19 pandemic.
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