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1 – 10 of 51Lerato Aghimien, Clinton Ohis Aigbavboa and Douglas Aghimien
This book aimed to conceptualise a construction workforce management model suitable for effectively managing workers in construction organisations. To this end, this chapter…
Abstract
This book aimed to conceptualise a construction workforce management model suitable for effectively managing workers in construction organisations. To this end, this chapter presents the conceptualised model, which consists of seven workforce management practices with their respective measurement variables. Drawing from existing theories, models, and practices, the chapter concludes that a construction organisation that will attain its strategic objectives in the current fourth industrial revolution era must be willing to promote effective recruitment and selection, compensation and benefits, performance management and appraisal, employee involvement and empowerment, training and development, as well as improving workers emotional intelligence and handling external environment pressure. These practices can promote proactiveness, participation, and improved skills and can lead to effective commitment, better quality, and flexibility within the organisation.
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There has been a reduction of arts funding the United States educational system, even though research has identified the need for socioemotional learning…
Abstract
There has been a reduction of arts funding the United States educational system, even though research has identified the need for socioemotional learning policy/guidelines/requirements in the US Ed. and more school teachers and counselors. In Texas, geopolitical issues and natural disasters impact learners in the state and corporal punishment is still allowed in some districts, such as Pampa Independent School District (ISD). A study of six art teachers across a large urban school district was conducted to better understand this conundrum vis-a-vis semi-structured interviews with art teachers working in public Middle and High Schools. This chapter investigates the impact of art practices and art teachers on socioemotional self-regulation of students, as we consider the impact on teacher retention using the Heuristic model of child self-regulation and reactivity and school outcomes (Liew, Erbeli, Nyanamba, & Li, 2020). Finally, the ironic finding that teaching art classes is financially emotionally draining for teachers to the point of decreasing retention, yet some are still impassioned to teach art classes, is juxtaposed with attachment theory. Recommendations for art education policy and pedagogy are made using the lens of socioemotional learning, art therapy, empathy, and emotional self-regulation.
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Vincent Adela, Mac Junior Abeka, George Tackie, Comfort Ama Akorfa Anipa, Deborah Esi Gyanba Mbir and Cornelius Adorm-Takyi
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of institutional structures on the strength of auditing and financial reporting standards.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of institutional structures on the strength of auditing and financial reporting standards.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper employs a panel data of 36 African countries over the period 2000–2018. System generalised method of moments (SGMM) was employed to estimate the relationship between institutional structures and the strength of auditing and financial reporting standards in Africa.
Findings
The findings of this paper indicate a positive and statistically significant relationship between institutional structures and the strength of auditing and financial reporting standards. As a further analysis, the study finds that the relationship between institutional structures and the strength of auditing and financial reporting standards is stronger for economies with common-law accounting traditions than those with civil-law origin.
Practical implications
The paper has important implications for countries striving to adopt and implement auditing and financial reporting standards fully. Such efforts must begin with establishing strong institutional structures in those countries.
Originality/value
This study presents the first empirical panel data evidence on the effect of institutional structures on the strength of auditing and financial reporting standards in Africa. Further, the methodology employed in this study can be regarded as effective in testing the phenomenon in other regions, or it can be employed as a guiding model for future research in the area.
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Abhishek Behl, Vijay Pereira, Achint Nigam, Samuel Wamba and Rahul Sindhwani
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the potential of NFTs in revolutionizing innovation management and information systems. Innovations done by firms are blatantly used by…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the potential of NFTs in revolutionizing innovation management and information systems. Innovations done by firms are blatantly used by other firms to develop cheap knock-off. This leads to huge economic loses to the firm investing in research and development activities. Firms are in need of trusted, immutable and verifiable means of storing information which cannot be used by others, even if publically available without their consent. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) appear to be one such solution to this problem that has recently attracted a lot of investor interest. Using NFTs the information is tokenized and is stored in a secure manner.
Design/methodology/approach
Through this scoping review, the authors investigate the influence of NFTs towards the innovation management from the dual aspects of management and information systems. This scoping review is underpinned by the five-stage framework by Arksey and O’Malley. The five stages of Arksey and O’Malley’s framework were used in this analysis to classify the literature through five stages of identifying the initial research questions; locating relevant studies; study selection; charting the data; and compiling, summarizing and reporting the results.
Findings
This study suggests that NFTs on the blockchain have significant potential to revolutionize innovation management and information systems. Theoretical frameworks used in investigating the role of digital tokens in blockchain management are mainly based on contracts, diversity theory, portfolio theory and faking likelihood theory. The study reveals gaps in the literature, particularly in the under-researched areas of behavioural psychology and social psychology theories. The appropriate regulation and regulation authority for different types of digital tokens are required. The study also presents archetypes that represent patterns in the current landscape of blockchain tokens, which have significant potential for future research and practical applications.
Originality/value
This study is unique in its approach to assessing the future of NFTs in the field of innovation and information management. While many existing reviews have focused on describing the progress and development of NFTs in the past, this study takes a forward-looking perspective and projects the future potential of NFTs. This innovative approach allows for a deeper understanding of the potential impact of NFTs in various fields such as entrepreneurship, innovation management and tokenomics. Therefore, this study contributes to the literature on NFTs by providing insights and recommendations for future research and practical applications.
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Esther Asiedu, Ebenezer Malcalm, Afia Nyarko Boakye and Cornelius Kwarkoh Kwarkoh Amoah
The purpose of this study is to examine the moderating effect of the reflective practice of business students on how it helps to develop their employability skills through various…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the moderating effect of the reflective practice of business students on how it helps to develop their employability skills through various university strategies.
Design/methodology/approach
The study employed a simple random sample to select undergraduate level 400 students from the Universities under study (the University of Ghana, University of Professional Studies Ghana, Lancaster University Ghana and Webster University Ghana). Only final-year students with an informed judgement on the reflective practice and various institutional practices to acquire graduate employability skills were participated. The independent variables of the study are institutional strategies (curriculum design, extra curriculum, work-integrated learning, career development centre, university collaboration with the industry, student engagement, internship job placement), the moderator is the reflective practice and the dependent variable of the study is graduate employability.
Findings
The study found that the moderation role of reflective practice had a significant effect on institutional strategies (extracurriculum, career development centre, university collaboration with the industry, student engagement and internship job placement) and graduate employability.
Research limitations/implications
The study was limited to only undergraduate business students from four universities ignoring other disciplines and postgraduate students.
Practical implications
The practical implication is that reflective practice must be an integral tool for various universities if they want students to use their strategies to sharpen their employability skills.
Social implications
The social implications of the study emphasise the reflective practice of graduate students in universities. This implies that firms and other institutions must consider reflective practice for the maximum output of their employees.
Originality/value
The concept of employability is a bit complex as it concerns many stakeholders of the educational process; the students, academic staff, employers, policymakers and higher education; the private sector; and the government. Although examining students' employability development skills is of great importance, students' reflective practice tends to be overlooked in most studies. Therefore, the focus of this study examines how the reflective practice of graduate students promotes employability through the various university strategies, which had not been considered.
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Montserrat Núnez Chicharro, Musa Mangena, María Inmaculada Alonso Carrillo and Alba María Priego De La Cruz
Higher education institutions (HEIs) are critical in the sustainability agenda, not only as catalysts for promoting sustainability practices but also because their activities have…
Abstract
Purpose
Higher education institutions (HEIs) are critical in the sustainability agenda, not only as catalysts for promoting sustainability practices but also because their activities have substantial social, economic and environmental impacts. Yet there is limited research that examines their sustainability performance. This paper aims to investigate the factors that are associated with sustainability performance in HEIs. Specifically, drawing from the stakeholder theory and exploiting Ullmann’s (1985) conceptual framework, this study examines the association between sustainability performance and stakeholder power, strategic posture and financial slack resources.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors draw the sample from the People & Planet University Green League Table for the period 2011–2019 and use the generalised estimating equations for the modelling approach.
Findings
This study finds that stakeholder power, in particular, funding grant income, tuition fee income and student and staff numbers, are positively associated with sustainability performance. In relation to strategic posture, this study finds that sustainability performance is negatively associated with governing body independence and gender diversity, and positively associated with internal structures. Finally, regarding financial slack resources, this study finds that surplus income (staff costs) is positively (negatively) associated with sustainability performance.
Practical implications
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research contributes to several existing literature focusing on the not-for-profit sector by documenting, for the first time, the role of stakeholder power, strategic posture and slack financial resources on sustainability performance.
Social implications
The paper includes relevant implications for HEI managers and regulators for promoting sustainability.
Originality/value
These results contribute to the literature on the factors influencing sustainability performance.
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Yasmine YahiaMarzouk and Jiafei Jin
This study aims to examine the impact of environmental scanning on organizational resilience through organizational learning based on organizational information processing theory…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the impact of environmental scanning on organizational resilience through organizational learning based on organizational information processing theory (OIPT) in Egyptian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, this study aims to examine the moderating role of environmental uncertainty in this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
The data for the mediation analysis was obtained using a cross-sectional design. Using a self-administered questionnaire, the authors collected data from a sample of 249 Egyptian SMEs. The authors tested the hypotheses using the smart partial least square structural equation modeling approach.
Findings
Organizational learning affects organizational resilience. Environmental scanning does not have a direct effect on organizational resilience. However, organizational learning fully mediates the relationship between environmental scanning and organizational resilience. Furthermore, environmental uncertainty does not moderate the indirect relationship between environmental scanning and resilience.
Research limitations/implications
The sample included only Egyptian manufacturing SMEs. The results in the service sector and in other countries may differ. This study was cross-sectional, which was limited in its ability to trace the long-term effects of environmental scanning and organizational learning on organizational resilience.
Practical implications
Egyptian SMEs’ managers should experience organizational learning as a pathway for environmental scanning to build organizational resilience.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to investigate the role of environmental scanning in building organizational resilience through organizational learning and the moderating role of environmental uncertainty in this relationship.
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This study aims to describe the m-learning experience of school students and teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic and explores the factors influencing the continuance intention…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to describe the m-learning experience of school students and teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic and explores the factors influencing the continuance intention of m-learning.
Design/methodology/approach
Semistructured interviews of 24 students and 09 teachers of schools in national capital territory (NCT) Delhi, India were conducted over 03 months and transcribed verbatim. A hermeneutic phenomenological design was used to interpret the text and bring out the “lived experiences” of m-learning.
Findings
The following 15 themes or factors influencing continuance intention emerged through the hermeneutic circle: (1) actual usage, (2) attitude, (3) context, (4) extrinsic motivation, (5) facilitating conditions, (6) intrinsic motivation, (7) perceived compatibility, (8) perceived content quality, (9) perceived mobile app quality, (10) perceived teaching quality, (11) perceived usefulness, (12) satisfaction, (13) self-efficacy, (14) self-management of learning and (15) social influence.
Research limitations/implications
The study offers insightful recommendations for school administrators, mobile device developers and app designers. In addition, suggestions for effectively using m-learning during disasters such as COVID-19 have been provided. Several future research directions, including a nuanced understanding of m-assessment and online discussions, are suggested to enhance the literature on m-learning continuance.
Originality/value
The study enriches the literature on m-learning continuance. A qualitative approach has been used to identify relevant factors influencing m-learning continuance intention among secondary and higher secondary level (Grades 9 to 12) school students and teachers in India. In addition, a conceptual framework of the relationships among the factors has been proposed. Further, an analysis of the lived experiences of m-learning during the COVID-19 pandemic indicated several issues and challenges in using m-learning during disasters.
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This paper’s objective is to provide a systematic literature review of the contextual factors affecting downward communication from supervisors to subordinates in the audit…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper’s objective is to provide a systematic literature review of the contextual factors affecting downward communication from supervisors to subordinates in the audit environment. In addition, this review identifies emerging research themes and directions for future research.
Design/methodology/approach
I accomplish this review’s objectives by leveraging communication literature to establish a framework to identify and synthesize contextual factors affecting downward communication in the audit environment. The review identifies 50 published articles in the last 20 years from leading accounting and auditing journals.
Findings
This study consolidates research findings on downward communication under two primary contextual factors: (1) message and (2) channel. Findings indicate that empirical research examining communication in audit is fragmented and limited. Studies examining the message focus heavily on its content and treatment in the areas of feedback, nonverbal cues, and fraud brainstorming, and a handful of additional studies examine the effectiveness of the channel in these areas. Additional research is needed to understand a broader set of supervisor–subordinate communication practices, including those that are computer-mediated, and their effect on subordinate auditors’ judgments and behaviors in the contemporary audit environment.
Originality/value
Much of the audit literature examining communication to date is topic-versus construct-based, making it difficult to see how the research findings relate to one another. This review is the first to synthesize the literature to provide academics recommendations for a way forward, and inform practitioners of communication practices whereby supervisors can be trained to improve audit quality.
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