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Work overload has become a relevant issue in the Information Technology (IT) industry, with negative effects for individuals and organizations alike. This study aims to analyse the role of personal resources in a broad model regarding the effects of work overload on performance and well-being for the particular case of IT professionals. Considering the specificities of the IT industry, three personal resources were included in this study: one stable personality variable (conscientiousness) and two more malleable variables (work-life balance and psychological detachment).

To test the model, the authors use a sample of 144 IT Portuguese professionals. The authors collected data through an online questionnaire shared in social networks and IT social network communities. The authors use partial least squares (PLS) for data analysis.

The results show that work overload negatively impacts on employees’ life satisfaction, psychological detachment, work-life balance and task performance. Conscientiousness is positively related with two positive outcomes: task performance and life satisfaction. Work-life balance has a mediating effect in the relationship between work overload and life satisfaction.

These findings emphasize the need to promote conscientiousness in IT professionals, as well as reduce workload and promote family-friendly working environments to foster work-life balance and life satisfaction.

By testing this model, the authors aim to contribute to the current knowledge on the role of personal resources in the Job Demands-Resources model, which is still unclear and under-researched.

The chapter explores academic success and academic distress, noting that both high- and low-performing students experience academic distress. The multidimensional nature of academic distress is discussed, including worry about future performance; stress about current performance; low academic self-confidence; frustration; confusion; poor motivation; and excessive expectations, both self-imposed and other-imposed. Popular measures of academic distress among college students are presented. The chapter also presents information related to the prevalence and mental health predictors of academic distress and academic success. Attention is devoted to cultural considerations (e.g., gender and ethnicity) not only in academic distress and success but also in terms of starting salaries for college graduates. The chapter focuses on the prevention and remediation of academic problems by exploring typical campus resources that promote academic success, involvement in extracurricular activity and choosing a major that is suited to a student’s interests, abilities and values. The chapter concludes by focusing on several prominent theories of career development. For example, Super’s lifespan career development theory is covered, as is Holland’s person–environment theory and social-cognitive career theory.

Any credible agenda that seeks to eradicate global poverty must seek to correct the structural injustices and inequities that cause and perpetuate endemic poverty. Such an agenda must aim not merely to aid the poor with grants, welfare, and subsidies (that indirectly perpetuate poverty) but seek to enhance self-sufficiency and productive skills of the poor by ensuring them comparable access to opportunities of the market economies to participate, on more equitable terms, in the dynamic process of overall economic growth. In this context, we apply critical thinking to identify and recognize the structured injustices of the market system, which not only cause poverty but also compromise human dignity via social inequalities and inequities arguably caused by the free market and corporate capital systems of the world. Global poverty that affects more than a quarter of the human population is a pernicious self-serving system connected to the injustices of the business and political systems of the world. The persistent nature of poverty is in direct proportion to our inability to eradicate it as a whole in the cosmic system. Eradication of global desperate poverty and its unjust structural causes can be achieved, we submit, by tracing the roots of global poverty to corporate and free enterprise capital systems and their unexamined structures of social injustice and social inequalities.

This study aims to investigate the affordances of service robots (SRs) in hotels and their effects on frontline employees (FLEs).

Purposive and referral samplings methods were used to conduct 28 semistructured interviews with hotel FLEs, and the transcribed manuscript was analyzed based on grounded theory.

The study identifies six dimensions of SR affordances: physical, sensory, task, safety, social and emotional affordances. The main effects of SR affordances on FLEs involve reducing work stress and mental fatigue and increasing positive emotions in the psychological aspects of FLEs. In terms of behavioral aspects, shifts in task priorities and enhancements in SR usage behaviors were observed. Accordingly, a mechanistic framework was revealed through which SR affordances influence FLEs via direct and indirect interactions between FLEs and SRs.

This paper expands robotics research from a supply-side perspective and is one of the few studies to investigate SR affordances in the field of hospitality research. Findings of this study provide practical guidelines for designing and implementing SRs to support hotel FLEs in their daily work.

本研究旨在调查酒店中服务机器人（SR）的可供性及其对一线员工（FLEs）的影响。

本研究采用目的性和推荐抽样方法, 对酒店一线员工进行了28次半结构化访谈, 并根据扎根理论对转录的手稿进行了分析。

本研究确定了服务机器人的六个可供性维度：物理、感官、任务、安全、社会和情感可供性。服务机器人可供性对一线员工的主要影响包括减少工作压力和心理疲劳, 以及在心理方面增加积极情绪。在行为方面, 观察到任务优先级的变化和服务机器人使用行为的增强。因此, 研究揭示了一种机制框架, 通过一线员工与服务机器人的直接和间接互动, 服务机器人可供性影响一线员工。

本文从供给侧视角扩展了机器人研究, 是少数几篇研究酒店业中服务机器人可供性的研究之一。本研究结果为设计和实施服务机器人以支持酒店一线员工的日常工作提供了实践指南。

This study examines the web accessibility issues faced by users with disabilities when using ChatGPT, a popular chatbot. It is crucial for users with disabilities to have barrier-free access to Internet communications technology to be on par with other users. Because of its roots in artificial intelligence (AI) technology, ChatGPT can empower individuals with various abilities, providing access to the Internet and potentially leading to a substantial boost in digital inclusion for these users.

The researchers focused on ensuring ease of access to ChatGPT’s webpage to achieve the study objective. They conducted manual testing with a visually impaired researcher. They used axe DevTools and Accessibility Insights to investigate the target page’s three most commonly used states for accessibility issues.

The researchers identified substantial and crucial web accessibility issues on the target page. These issues resulted in frustration and hindered complete access to information about ChatGPT’s features. The researchers stress the significance of prioritising web accessibility and urge web designers to integrate Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) standards into the initial stages of web development rather than addressing them as corrective measures. Given the United Nations' recognition of access to information and communication technology (ICT) as a pivotal Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) for users with disabilities, it is imperative to elevate web accessibility to foster their economic self-reliance and independence. This study underscores this imperative.

In this study, researchers assessed the accessibility of ChatGPT on the Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge browsers. This investigation could potentially be broadened to encompass additional web browsers. Furthermore, the researchers focused on three distinct states of ChatGPT: the initial default state, the subsequent output state and the third state, which represents errors on the target page. Further, developers can employ the results to enhance the accessibility experience for users with varying abilities who interact with ChatGPT.

Following a comprehensive examination of the current body of literature, the study pinpointed a gap in research, highlighting the necessity to conduct accessibility assessments for ChatGPT with regard to these particular users.

The purpose of this study was to develop a multi-criteria-based scoring model to upgrade the work stress prevention checkpoints to a stress-management tool for estimating the risk score of the workplace’s stressors and prioritizing the control solutions.

A Panel of ten experts was formed and capitalized on Fuzzy Delphi, Fuzzy DEMATEL, and SWARA methods to discover the decision criteria, obtain the weights of the checkpoints’ dimensions, and develop the system to be used in an organization. The developed tool is finally applied in an organization as a case study.

Five criteria, namely Intellectual, Physical, Emotional, Behavioral, and Organizational reactions were found with respect to which the dimensions were prioritized. Generally, the heaviest weight belonged to “Job demand” by 0.13, followed by “Work-life balance and working times”, “Social support”, “Leadership and justice at work”, “Job control”, and “Job security” with weights of 0.118, 0.116, 0.114, 0.11, and 0.1, respectively. The “information and communication” had the lowest weight by 0.062.

It was found that multiple stress-related factors have different importance that can be considered in work-related stress (WRS) assessments. To this end, combining MCDM methods is a suitable approach to determine the factors’ importance coefficients.

This tool allows an organization to control work stress on the basis of one particular criterion or multiple criteria. The case study results showed that this tool makes the implementation of corrective measures much easier to manage based on the risk level of each dimension.

Blockchain is an innovative and emerging technology that allows the structuring of open data in a secure and decentralized manner. This technology, coupled with artificial intelligence (AI), is a driver of digital transformation that permeates all sectors of the economy. In this context, it becomes relevant to understand the applicability of AI and blockchain in education, more specifically their use in higher education. Thus, the following problem arises: how can blockchain technology and AI be applied to higher education? To answer this problem, the following objective was set: to map by means of a scoping review how AI and blockchain can be applied in education as a technology for higher education. To this end, a bibliometric search was conducted in the Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus databases, adopting the PRiSM methodology for scoping review. The results showed that blockchain and AI can be used in higher education through a smart contract that serves to motivate teamwork and student involvement in activities performed in the school context and also to increase machine reliability by establishing a chain of information. It is also concluded that these technologies will help form a generation ready to work in a more collaborative way, adopting attitudes of sustainability in its local and global context for solving complex problems of everyday life in the 21st century.

The purpose of this study is twofold: first, to identify the categories of artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot service failures in frontline, and second, to examine the effect of the intensity of AI emotion exhibited on the effectiveness of the chatbots’ autonomous service recovery process.

We adopt a mixed-methods research approach, starting with a qualitative research, the purpose of which is to identify specific categories of AI chatbot service failures. In the second stage, we conduct experiments to investigate the impact of AI chatbot service failures on consumers’ psychological perceptions, with a focus on the moderating influence of chatbot’s emotional expression. This sequential approach enabled us to incorporate both qualitative and quantitative aspects for a comprehensive research perspective.

The results suggest that, from the analysis of interview data, AI chatbot service failures mainly include four categories: failure to understand, failure to personalize, lack of competence, and lack of assurance. The results also reveal that AI chatbot service failures positively affect dehumanization and increase customers’ perceptions of service failure severity. However, AI chatbots can autonomously remedy service failures through moderate AI emotion. An interesting golden zone of AI’s emotional expression in chatbot service failures was discovered, indicating that extremely weak or strong intensity of AI’s emotional expression can be counterproductive.

This study contributes to the burgeoning AI literature by identifying four types of AI service failure, developing dehumanization theory in the context of smart services, and demonstrating the nonlinear effects of AI emotion. The findings also offer valuable insights for organizations that rely on AI chatbots in terms of designing chatbots that effectively address and remediate service failures.

The a priori identification and development of army personnel competencies are necessary to enable effective and efficient responses to rapidly changing climate conditions. Accordingly, this study aims to identify the performance requirements of a military flood responder and the competencies (knowledge, skills and abilities) required to perform it.

Using an abductive approach, the authors conducted both secondary and primary research to generate a validated framework of performance criteria and competencies for army personnel responding to floods. This literature review integrated both the peer-reviewed academic literature and public sector grey literature. Using the critical incident technique, the authors then conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 members of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) who had previously been tasked with flood response operations. Participants were asked about the tasks required while conducting flood response operations. Interview transcripts were then content analysed to identify themes regarding those tasks, and the competencies needed to perform those tasks were then extracted and contrasted with the literature review findings. Inter-rater reliability for the analysis was established via iterative discussion between the two co-authors.

The primary data reinforced and expanded the list of performance expectations that the authors deductively identified from the integrated literature review, adding granularity to each. It also identified competencies (including both hard and soft skills) and highlighted previously neglected contextual antecedents of military flood response effectiveness.

though knowledge saturation was achieved from the 15 interviews conducted, further research with larger samples could more deeply ground the evidence discovered in this study. Nevertheless, the competencies identified in this paper could serve as a starting guide to staffing and/or training interventions targeted at improving these competencies for personnel responding to flood scenarios.

The theoretical findings also have immediate practical relevance to training for flood response operations. In particular, the subtle challenges in competency crossover from military operations to flood response operations may facilitate not only more efficient, targeted training (that could improve the effectiveness of army personnel involved in humanitarian roles), but could be applied to the selection of army personnel as well. This study may also help provincial/municipal operators and emergency planners by better communicating the strengths and limitations of army personnel in addressing civilian military cooperation for humanitarian operations. Thus, the findings of this research study represent an important first step in prompting attention to the strategic human resource planning studies required to make all responders more efficient and effective in their respective division of labour within the humanitarian domain.

Peering a little beyond these research findings, human-induced climate change is expected to continue increasing the frequency of such events (IPCC, 2021), and a timely, national force is likely to be increasingly required for Canadians impacted by major disasters stemming from natural hazards when local resources become overwhelmed. Yet, there is some concern from the CAF that increasing responsiveness to disaster operations will affect their military readiness (Leuprecht and Kasurak, 2020). One can indeed envision a paradox whereby the CAF is both a “force of last resort” while increasingly becoming a “first choice for domestic disaster and emergency assistance”. The practical implications from this research also suggest that military personnel, while fully capable of successfully conducting flood response operations, may become overburdened and less able to adopt yet greater capacity and training for other additional humanitarian work. Nevertheless, the competencies highlighted by participants can help inform the next flood response operation in Canada.

Most literature in the field of emergency response focuses on cooperation between civilian and military resources and other strategic-level themes. The findings address critical granularity missing at the operational and tactical levels of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief research. The authors also draw implications beyond the military context, including for local/regional governmental players (operators and emergency planners) as well as for volunteers in flood response roles.

This paper aims to highlight the role of the CEO’s background in the stock market reaction to a product recall. Based on the upper echelons theory and the crisis management literature, we argue that the CEO’s background influences the expected response in a product harm crisis and the updating of investors’ expectations following a product recall announcement. We test if the CEO’s background influences the abnormal stock market returns around product recalls and how it affects the way investors interpret the recall strategy and severity.

We use an event study, for a sample of 2,576 product recalls in the US automobile industry, between January 2010 and June 2021.

We observe that the stock market’s reaction is less negative if the firm’s CEO presents a core specialist background and for firms led by insider CEOs. This result is in line with our argument that in the presence of a crisis that requires operational and firm-specific knowledge, such as product recalls, the best alignment in terms of the CEO’s background occurs when the CEO was recruited inside and is a core specialist. Finally, we also find that the CEO’s background has a moderating effect on the impact of the recall strategy and severity on the stock market reaction to a recall announcement. In particular, a recall with high severity has a more negative stock market reaction when the CEO is a core specialist as such an event is not expected by the market.

These results have important implications for practitioners and scholars working in the areas of product quality and corporate governance. Given the high frequency and high costs for firms to carry out these operations in the automobile industry, we recommend a careful analysis of the CEO’s background before their appointment as well as careful planning to prevent and to adequately react appropriately to product quality problems. While there is a common tendency among executives to cut discretionary expenditures such as spending on product safety, our results regarding the stock market reaction to product recall announcements suggest that investors expect firms led by insider and core specialist CEOs to be more likely to ensure product quality and to respond to product quality crisis.

We extend knowledge of product recalls by studying the role of the CEO’s background on the stock market reaction to product recall announcements.