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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 6 February 2024

Italo Cesidio Fantozzi, Sebastiano Di Luozzo and Massimiliano Maria Schiraldi

The purpose of the study is to identify the soft skills and abilities that are crucial to success in the fields of operations management (OM) and supply chain management (SCM)…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of the study is to identify the soft skills and abilities that are crucial to success in the fields of operations management (OM) and supply chain management (SCM), using the O*NET database and the classification of a set of professional figures integrating values for task skills and abilities needed to operate successfully in these professions.

Design/methodology/approach

The study used the O*NET database to identify the soft skills and abilities required for success in OM and SCM industries. Correlation analysis was conducted to determine the tasks required for the job roles and their characteristics in terms of abilities and soft skills. ANOVA analysis was used to validate the findings. The study aims to help companies define specific assessments and tests for OM and SCM roles to measure individual attitudes and correlate them with the job position.

Findings

As a result of the work, a set of soft skills and abilities was defined that allow, through correlation analysis, to explain a large number of activities required to work in the operations and SCM (OSCM) environment.

Research limitations/implications

The work is inherently affected by the database used for the professional figures mapped and the scores that are attributed within O*NET to the analyzed elements.

Practical implications

The information resulting from this study can help companies develop specific assessments and tests for the roles of OM and SCM to measure individual attitudes and correlate them with the requirements of the job position. The study aims to address the need to identify soft skills in the human sphere and determine which of them have the most significant impact on the OM and SCM professions.

Originality/value

The originality of this study lies in its approach to identify the set of soft skills and abilities that determine success in the OM and SCM industries. The study used the O*NET database to correlate the tasks required for specific job roles with their corresponding soft skills and abilities. Furthermore, the study used ANOVA analysis to validate the findings in other sectors mapped by the same database. The identified soft skills and abilities can help companies develop specific assessments and tests for OM and SCM roles to measure individual attitudes and correlate them with the requirements of the job position. In addressing the necessity for enhanced clarity in the domain of human factor, this study contributes to identifying key success factors. Subsequent research can further investigate their practical application within companies to formulate targeted growth strategies and make appropriate resource selections for vacant positions.

Details

The TQM Journal, vol. 36 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1754-2731

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 April 2024

Anastasios Athanasiadis, Vassiliki Papadopoulou, Helen Tsakiridou and George Iordanidis

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between prospective teachers’ cultural profiles and service quality expectations in a pedagogical training program in Greece.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between prospective teachers’ cultural profiles and service quality expectations in a pedagogical training program in Greece.

Design/methodology/approach

Using the EppekQual scale and an alternative Hofstede’s cultural scale, 113 prospective teachers in a Greek training program were surveyed. The study uses descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and multiple regression, validating measurements through confirmatory factor analysis.

Findings

Prospective teachers exhibit a low-power orientation and a preference for feminine values. Rejecting hierarchy correlates with quality expectations, especially in the curriculum dimension, emphasizing student-centric education. A positive correlation with acceptance/avoidance of uncertainty is observed, notably in learning outcomes and administrative services. The cultural aversion to ambiguity shapes individuals’ prioritization of all quality dimensions. A realistic long-term perspective correlates positively with expectations in learning outcomes, aligning with Greek culture’s emphasis on security. Contrary to expectations, a predilection for feminine values positively impacts service quality expectations, particularly in curriculum, learning outcomes and academic staff dimensions. The hypothesis related to individualism/collectivism is not substantiated, indicating a negative association with the curriculum dimension.

Practical implications

Tailoring program designs to embrace student-centric and collaborative learning environments is recommended. Acknowledging cultural aversions to uncertainty, program flexibility and clarity are essential. Integrating career planning and mentorship aligns with realistic long-term perspectives. The need for a balanced approach to personal and intellectual development is also suggested.

Originality/value

This study uncovers specific cultural dimensions that shape quality expectations within a Greek teacher training context.

Details

Quality Assurance in Education, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0968-4883

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 13 May 2024

G. Kumar, R. Vijay Raja and T. Vel Murugan

Purpose: The study discusses various concepts for human resources (HR) executives for effective decision making in VUCA times, talent management, hybrid work business model…

Abstract

Purpose: The study discusses various concepts for human resources (HR) executives for effective decision making in VUCA times, talent management, hybrid work business model, creativity and innovation in HR practices, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in HR practices, and flexibility in HR policies.

Need for the Study: The driving truth of this study is to approach a successful dynamic critical model for HR leaders in the IT Industry in Chennai city during VUCA times. Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity are the four main components of VUCA.

Methodology: The essential information was gathered with Google Structures, and testing methods were embraced to review the Snowball Examining Procedure. The 211 reactions were settled for the concentrate after deficient reactions. The auxiliary information was gathered from sources like Papers, Business Magazines, Industry Reports, Articles, and Reading material. The information was dissected with measurable programming SPSS 25 and AMOS 23. The validity check, t-test, correlation analysis, regression analysis, and structural equation modeling (SEM) are the statistical methods used in the study.

Findings: The review results that the free factor is the ability of The board, Crossbreed Work Plan of action, Imagination and development in HR rehearses, Variety, Value and Consideration in HR practices, and adaptability in HR strategies altogether affect the reliant variable viable decision making during VUCA times.

Practical Implications: The study identifies hybrid work models and flexible HR policies as crucial parameters in VUCA times.

Details

VUCA and Other Analytics in Business Resilience, Part B
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83753-199-8

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 December 2022

Prashan Bandara Wijesinghe and Prasanna Illankoon

The purpose of this study was to improve the overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) of the production process of the shredder operation of ABC company, an industrial waste…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to improve the overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) of the production process of the shredder operation of ABC company, an industrial waste management company which supplies pre-processed industrial waste as alternative fuel to a cement plant.

Design/methodology/approach

This case study investigated all possible availability and performance losses that caused the shredder system’s OEE and various problem-solving techniques, such as root cause analysis and Pareto analysis, were used to find the root cause of the reduced OEE.

Findings

After analysing this case study, three significant loss factors were identified from all the availability and performance losses, which caused the shredder system’s OEE losses. Practical solutions were found for the effect of those loss factors to improve the machine’s OEE and productivity.

Research limitations/implications

This case study has been concentrated on only analysing of losses and improvement of OEE in the production process and not about cost analysis between loss and improvements.

Originality/value

This paper shows how to improve the OEE of a production process through various problem-solving techniques by identifying its losses and how to achieve the best solutions for those losses in a practical manner.

Details

Journal of Global Operations and Strategic Sourcing, vol. 17 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2398-5364

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 12 January 2024

Patrik Jonsson, Johan Öhlin, Hafez Shurrab, Johan Bystedt, Azam Sheikh Muhammad and Vilhelm Verendel

This study aims to explore and empirically test variables influencing material delivery schedule inaccuracies?

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to explore and empirically test variables influencing material delivery schedule inaccuracies?

Design/methodology/approach

A mixed-method case approach is applied. Explanatory variables are identified from the literature and explored in a qualitative analysis at an automotive original equipment manufacturer. Using logistic regression and random forest classification models, quantitative data (historical schedule transactions and internal data) enables the testing of the predictive difference of variables under various planning horizons and inaccuracy levels.

Findings

The effects on delivery schedule inaccuracies are contingent on a decoupling point, and a variable may have a combined amplifying (complexity generating) and stabilizing (complexity absorbing) moderating effect. Product complexity variables are significant regardless of the time horizon, and the item’s order life cycle is a significant variable with predictive differences that vary. Decoupling management is identified as a mechanism for generating complexity absorption capabilities contributing to delivery schedule accuracy.

Practical implications

The findings provide guidelines for exploring and finding patterns in specific variables to improve material delivery schedule inaccuracies and input into predictive forecasting models.

Originality/value

The findings contribute to explaining material delivery schedule variations, identifying potential root causes and moderators, empirically testing and validating effects and conceptualizing features that cause and moderate inaccuracies in relation to decoupling management and complexity theory literature?

Details

International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 44 no. 13
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3577

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 May 2024

Shiquan Wang, Xuantong Wang and Qianlin Li

Face is the most intuitive and representative feature at the individual level. Many studies show that beautiful faces help individuals and enterprises obtain economic benefits and…

Abstract

Purpose

Face is the most intuitive and representative feature at the individual level. Many studies show that beautiful faces help individuals and enterprises obtain economic benefits and form a high economic premium, but the discussion of their potential social value is insufficient. This study aims to focus on the impact of the personal characteristics of executives. It mainly analyzes the impact mechanism of CEO facial attractiveness on corporate social responsibility (CSR) decision-making, clarifying the social value of beauty from the perspective of CSR.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors use the regression model to analyze the panel data set, which was conducted by a sample of Chinese publicly listed firms from 2016 to 2018.

Findings

The study found that CEOs with high facial attractiveness are more active in fulfilling CSR, which can usually bring higher social benefits. CEOs with beautiful faces are prone to overconfidence, are optimistic about their ability and the future development of the enterprise and are more willing to increase their investment in CSR. CEO duality can positively regulate the positive correlation between a CEO’s facial attractiveness and CSR.

Originality/value

Based on the perspective of upper echelons theory, this paper explores the mechanism of CEO facial attractiveness on CSR. This study enriches the perspective of the upper echelon’s theoretical research and has essential enlightenment for CEO selection and training practice.

Details

Chinese Management Studies, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-614X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 27 November 2023

Muhammad Edo Suryawan Siregar, Suherman Suherman, Titis Fatarina Mahfirah, Berto Usman, Gentiga Muhammad Zairin and Herni Kurniawati

This study aims to investigate how the presence of female executives on the board affects a company’s capital structure decisions. The critical mass of female executives on the…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to investigate how the presence of female executives on the board affects a company’s capital structure decisions. The critical mass of female executives on the board was also considered to observe their impact on capital structure.

Design/methodology/approach

Samples were taken from nonfinancial sector companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange between 2012 and 2021 (3,707 firm-year observations). Capital structure was measured using four approaches, namely, debt-to-total asset ratio (DAR), debt-to-equity ratio (DER), short-term debt-to-total assets (STD) and long-term debt-to-total assets (LTD). The data were analyzed using panel data regression analysis, including a fixed effects model with clustered standard errors.

Findings

The presence of female executives on the board is significantly negatively related to capital structure as measured by DER and STD. The critical mass of women provided no evidence of a relationship with a firm’s capital structure. Robustness checks were performed, and the results were consistent with those in the main analysis.

Research limitations/implications

Female executives can be appointed to management boards when determining a strategy to achieve the capital structure desired by a company.

Originality/value

This study increases the diversity of research in corporate governance by synthesizing various indicators from female executives into a single study to determine their relationships with companies’ capital structures. In addition, this study stands out by incorporating four distinct indicators for assessing capital structure and diverging from the norm observed in many other studies, many of which rely on just two indicators: DAR and DER. Moreover, it strongly emphasizes the unique economic, legal, social and cultural landscapes of developing countries like Indonesia in comparison to their developed counterparts, particularly Western nations.

Details

Corporate Governance: The International Journal of Business in Society, vol. 24 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1472-0701

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 13 March 2024

Tjaša Redek and Uroš Godnov

The Internet has changed consumer decision-making and influenced business behaviour. User-generated product information is abundant and readily available. This paper argues that…

Abstract

Purpose

The Internet has changed consumer decision-making and influenced business behaviour. User-generated product information is abundant and readily available. This paper argues that user-generated content can be efficiently utilised for business intelligence using data science and develops an approach to demonstrate the methods and benefits of the different techniques.

Design/methodology/approach

Using Python Selenium, Beautiful Soup and various text mining approaches in R to access, retrieve and analyse user-generated content, we argue that (1) companies can extract information about the product attributes that matter most to consumers and (2) user-generated reviews enable the use of text mining results in combination with other demographic and statistical information (e.g. ratings) as an efficient input for competitive analysis.

Findings

The paper shows that combining different types of data (textual and numerical data) and applying and combining different methods can provide organisations with important business information and improve business performance.

Research limitations/implications

The paper shows that combining different types of data (textual and numerical data) and applying and combining different methods can provide organisations with important business information and improve business performance.

Originality/value

The study makes several contributions to the marketing and management literature, mainly by illustrating the methodological advantages of text mining and accompanying statistical analysis, the different types of distilled information and their use in decision-making.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. 53 no. 13
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 April 2024

Mohammed Sawkat Hossain and Maleka Sultana

As of now, the digitization of corporate finance presents a paradigm shift in business strategy, innovation, financing and managerial capability around the globe. However, the…

Abstract

Purpose

As of now, the digitization of corporate finance presents a paradigm shift in business strategy, innovation, financing and managerial capability around the globe. However, the prevailing finance scholarly works hardly document the impact of the digitalization of corporate finance on firm performance with global evidence and analysis. Hence, the contemporary debate on whether firm performance is genuinely stimulated because of the digitalization of corporate finance or not has been a pressing issue in the relevant literature. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify a data-driven, concise response to an unaddressed finance issue if the performance of high-digitalized firms (HDFs) outperforms that of their counterpart peers for wealth maximization.

Design/methodology/approach

The first stage test models examine the firm performance of relatively high-digitalized firms as opposed to low-digitalized firms based on the system GMM. The second stage test of the probabilistic (logit) model infers that the probability of being HDFs explores because of better performance. Then, the authors execute robust checks based on the different quantile regressions and Z-score-based system GMM. In addition, the authors recheck and present the test results of the fixed effect and random effect to capture time-invariant individual heterogeneity. Finally, the supplementary test findings of firms’ credit strength by using Altman five- and four-factor Z-score models are presented.

Findings

By using cross-country panel analysis as 15 years’ test bed for HDFs and low digitalized firms (LDFs), the test results indicate that the overall firm performance of a digitalized firm is significantly better than that of a non-digitalized firm. The global evidence documents that HDFs are exposed to higher values and are financially more persistent as compared to their counterparts. The finding is remarkably concomitant across several possible subsample analysis, such as country–industry–size–period analysis.

Practical implications

This study can be remarkably effective in encouraging managers, policymakers and investors to acknowledge the need for adopting the required digitalization. Overall, this original study addresses a core research gap in the corporate finance literature and remarkably provides further direction to rethink the assumptions of firm digitalization on additive value and thereby identify optimal decisions for wealth maximization. The findings also imply that investors require an additional risk premium if they invest in relatively LDFs, which have relatively lower market value and weaker firm performance.

Originality/value

From an investors point of view, the academic novelty contributes to an innovative and unsettled issue on the impact of digitization of corporate finance on firm performance because there is a new question of high or low digitization of corporate finance in the global market. Hence, this academic novelty contributes to sharing global evidence of the digitalization of corporate finance and its effect on firm performances. In addition, an intensive critical review analysis is conducted based on the most recent and relevant scholarly works published in the top-tier journals of finance and business stream to fix the hypothesis. Overall, this study addresses a core research gap in the corporate finance literature; notably provides further direction to rethink firm digitalization; and thereby identifies optimal decisions for shareholders’ wealth maximization.

Details

Journal of Financial Economic Policy, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1757-6385

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 May 2024

Lala Hajibayova, Mallory McCorkhill and Timothy D. Bowman

In this study, STEM resources reviewed in Goodreads were investigated to determine their authorship, linguistic characteristics and impact. The analysis reveals gender disparity…

Abstract

Purpose

In this study, STEM resources reviewed in Goodreads were investigated to determine their authorship, linguistic characteristics and impact. The analysis reveals gender disparity favoring titles with male authors.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper applies theoretical concepts of knowledge commons to understand how individuals leverage the affordances of the Goodreads platform to share their perceptions of STEM-related books.

Findings

The analysis reveals gender disparity favoring titles with male authors. Female-authored STEM publications represent popular science nonfiction and juvenile genres. Analysis of the scholarly impact of the reviewed titles revealed that Google Scholar provides broader and more diverse coverage than Web of Science. Linguistic analysis of the reviews revealed the relatively low aesthetic disposition of reviewers with an emphasis on embodied experiences that emerged from the reading.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the understanding of the impact of popular STEM resources as well as the influence of the language of user-generated reviews on production, consumption and discoverability of STEM titles.

Details

Journal of Documentation, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0022-0418

Keywords

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