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1 – 10 of 199John Whiteoak, Daniel Abell and Karen Becker
This paper aims to examine the critical question of how to increase productivity without also increasing the burnout risk. A systems thinking framework was applied to explore…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the critical question of how to increase productivity without also increasing the burnout risk. A systems thinking framework was applied to explore individual perceptions of team dynamics and how they relate to morale, work–life balance (WLB) and hours worked.
Design/methodology/approach
Using an online survey, data from 1,222 Australian workers were analysed using hierarchical multiple regression and principal components analysis (PCA).
Findings
Self-reported productivity was found to be predicted by engagement whereas burnout and morale had minimal impact. Burnout risk was not related to hours worked but was reduced when WLB, quality work and trust is higher. Co-worker effort impacted morale and a factor labelled as team “sense of accomplishment” (SoA) was identified.
Research limitations/implications
The results of this research have limited generalisability to wider populations due to sampling methods, being conducted in the Australian context and respondents coming from a diverse range of occupations. The sample being skewed towards younger age groups and the acknowledged use of single-item measures may also restrict drawing broader conclusions from the results.
Originality/value
A socio-technical systems thinking model to diagnose the link between workplace burnout and productivity is applied. The approach involved understanding the importance of trust and how the connection between people and systems can influence morale.
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Linus Jonathan Vem, Julfa Christian Peter, Danjuma Nimfa Tali, Abel Daniel Ochigbo, Murali Sambasivan and Teresa Mwuese Nmadu
There has been a growing concern about employee silence (ES) within an organization. ES is associated with low creativity and innovativeness, unethical organizational practices…
Abstract
Purpose
There has been a growing concern about employee silence (ES) within an organization. ES is associated with low creativity and innovativeness, unethical organizational practices, avoidable errors and safety-related issues. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the mediating role of psychological insecurity (PI) in the relationship between leaders’ bullying behaviour (LBB) on defensive (DES) and acquiescent employee silence (AES).
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected among police personnel working in Plateau state Nigeria. In all, a total of 350 responses were found useable for further analysis, of the 398 copies of the questionnaire administered. A structural equation modelling technique was used via SMART-PLS version 3.3.3 to test the hypothesized relationship.
Findings
The findings of this study revealed that leaders’ bullying positively and significantly influences both AES and DES, and PI was found to mediate the relationship between LBB and AES and DES.
Originality/value
LBB among the police has been under-researched, even when there is clear evidence of its existence. PI explains the mechanism through which LBB influences officers' silence.
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Alessandro Bressan, Abel Duarte Alonso, Oanh Thi Kim Vu and Daniel Borer
The purpose of this study is to examine factors contributing to family firms’ survival in the ongoing COVID-19 crisis; in this endeavour, the study espouses the underpinnings of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine factors contributing to family firms’ survival in the ongoing COVID-19 crisis; in this endeavour, the study espouses the underpinnings of social exchange theory and entrepreneurial resilience.
Design/methodology/approach
The views of 128 Italian family micro and small-sized firm owners/managers operating in different industries were gathered through an online questionnaire.
Findings
The analysis uncovers 12 fundamental factors contributing to firms’ survival; these are encapsulated in three dimensions and presented in two theoretical frameworks. The “beneficiary” dimension stresses the support from various internal and external stakeholders, while the “benefactor” dimension illustrates the commitment to extend the family tradition and be responsive to stakeholders. Finally, the “immersion/embeddedness” dimension denotes firms’ entrepreneurial behaviour, agility, decision-making and drive.
Originality/value
Firstly, and from a practitioner perspective, this study addresses recognised knowledge and research gaps in contemporary family business research, including how family firms are confronting the current unprecedented crisis. This response to current extant gaps provides first-hand empirical findings that could be primarily considered by industry stakeholders. Secondly, and from a theoretical angle, the aforementioned dimensions revealed through the analysis, coupled with the development of a theoretical framework, contribute to conceptual rigour and, therefore, a deeper understanding of family firms’ journey through an unprecedented event.
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Ebenezer Bugri Anarfo, Abel Mawuko Agoba, Yakubu Awudu Sare and Daniel Komla Gameti
This study aims to investigate the impact of energy access on foreign direct investment (FDI) in an emerging market.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the impact of energy access on foreign direct investment (FDI) in an emerging market.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses the two-stage least square instrumental variables estimation approach to compute the parameters of the model to account for any potential endogeneity and time persistence in energy access.
Findings
The results show that energy access significantly influences FDI inflows in Ghana. The results of the study also revealed that natural resources and macroeconomic variables such as real interest rate, gross domestic product growth rate are significant determinants of FDI inflows in Ghana.
Practical implications
The practical implication of this study is that there is a need for energy sector policy reforms in Ghana that would guarantee a secured and continued supply of energy to enhance energy access to boost FDI. Ghana should aim for a cost-effective, stable and environmentally friendly source of energy as an alternative to hydro energy as the main source of its power generation to promote FDI. Also, Ghana should initiate and implement policies aimed at creating an enabling and stable macroeconomic environment, as macroeconomic factors in this study are found to be drivers of FDI.
Originality/value
This study provides firsthand information on energy access and FDI from the Ghanaian perspective.
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To identify challenges which prison inmates face in obtaining meaningful access to the courts in the absence of constitutionally mandated access to a prison law library.
Abstract
Purpose
To identify challenges which prison inmates face in obtaining meaningful access to the courts in the absence of constitutionally mandated access to a prison law library.
Methodology/approach
Beginning with a historical framework, the research explores a study of three pivotal legal cases, highlighting how the prison law library doctrine has evolved over time. Further secondary source research is conducted to illustrate the importance of the issue to the modern day inmate.
Findings
Jurisprudence of the prison law library doctrine never clearly defines what alternative measures to a prisoners right to access a library are or can be. Many decisions simply list suggestions and leave it to the correctional facility to tailor reasonable measures that work with their institution, heavily relying upon a separation of powers justification.
Research limitations/implications
The present research implicates a continuity of a lack of meaningful access to the courts to underserved communities.
Social implications
The present research provides a necessary starting point for further sociological field research into the area of prison law libraries as a Fourteenth Amendment necessity. This research illustrates a foundational flaw in providing inmates with meaningful access to courts and will educate judges and prison administrators alike about this constitutional violation.
Originality/value
Moreover, the present research provides librarians, attorneys, judges, politicians, community members, prison officials, and prison inmates with the vital information necessary to uphold the prisoners Due Process right to meaningful access to the court.
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Rachael Dixon, Gillian Abel and Lisette Burrows
In Aotearoa New Zealand, Health Education is socio-critical in orientation and is offered as a subject that can offer credits towards the national secondary school qualification…
Abstract
Purpose
In Aotearoa New Zealand, Health Education is socio-critical in orientation and is offered as a subject that can offer credits towards the national secondary school qualification. The purpose of this paper is to explore the learning experiences of people who studied Health Education to the final level of secondary schooling in Aotearoa New Zealand. The authors focus specifically on how the subject is taught; or the pedagogical practices that are “put to work” in the Health Education learning environment.
Design/methodology/approach
Using in-depth interviews as the authors’ method of data production, they experiment with a post-qualitative approach to analysis while traversing the theoretical terrain of new materialism. In doing so, they explicate the non-human and human elements that are arranged in a pedagogical assemblage – and explore what these elements can do.
Findings
The authors found that an array of pedagogical practices were put to work in the senior secondary school Health Education classroom: Student-centred approaches, a non-judgemental and energetic tone to teaching, deployment of human and non-human resources, and students connecting with the community. The authors argue that these practices open up possibilities for a critical Health Education.
Practical implications
This research addresses an empirical gap in the literature by focusing on Health Education in the senior secondary levels of schooling. The findings in this paper may provide readers who are Health Education teachers with ideas that could be of material use to them in their teaching practice. In terms of implications for researchers, the authors demonstrate how putting “new” theory and methodological approaches to work in the area of school-based Health Education can produce novel ways of thinking about the subject and what it can do.
Originality/value
The shifting nature of the pedagogical assemblage can ignite new ways of thinking about teaching practice in the Health Education classroom and the capacities that result for learners. In combination with a post-qualitative approach to analysis, the paper provides a novel approach to exploring Health Education.
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Oluwole Daniel Makinde and Precious Sibanda
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of first‐order homogeneous chemical reaction on a two‐dimensional boundary layer flow past a vertical stretching surface in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of first‐order homogeneous chemical reaction on a two‐dimensional boundary layer flow past a vertical stretching surface in the presence of internal heat generation.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the Boussinesq and boundary‐layer approximations, the fluid equations for momentum, energy balance and concentration governing the problem are formulated. The governing partial differential equations are transformed using similarity transformations into a set of coupled ordinary differential equations that are solved numerically using a shooting technique and a sixth‐order Runge‐Kutta scheme.
Findings
It was found that for positive values of the buoyancy parameters, the local skin friction and mass transfer coefficients increase with increasing Eckert and Schmidt numbers while the heat transfer coefficient decreases with both Eckert and Schmidt numbers. Both the velocity and temperature profiles increase significantly when the heat generation parameter increases.
Practical implications
Continuous surface heat and mass transfer problems occur naturally in metallurgical process such as in the aerodynamic extrusion of plastic sheets, hot rolling and the cooling of metallic plates in a cooling bath. This work provides a very useful source of information for researchers on this subject.
Originality/value
This paper illustrates the effects of chemical reaction on boundary layer flow past a vertical stretching surface in the presence of internal heat generation.
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Alves Ribeiro, Vishveshwar R. Mantha, Abel I. Rouboa, Daniel A. Marinho and António J. Silva
The purpose of this current study is to identify the optimal stable position of airship, with reference to spatial variation of atmospheric wind flow, so as to reduce the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this current study is to identify the optimal stable position of airship, with reference to spatial variation of atmospheric wind flow, so as to reduce the vibrations and thus aid in the development of control mechanism of airship dynamics.
Design/methodology/approach
Study of uniform flow under steady‐state conditions was carried out through the measurements of pressure and velocity in a wind tunnel at low Mach numbers on airship model (in order of size, 1:13) inclined to the uniform air stream at various angles. The measurements have been made for a range of angles of incidence, in both vertical and horizontal planes, with a Reynolds number, based on the free stream velocity and a body cross‐sectional dimension, of order of four and six, respectively. Steady‐state numerical simulations were performed, serving comparative investigation with experimental data for the specific case of the model inclined to the free stream, with orientation of side‐slip (yaw) angle β=0 and angle of attack (pitch) α=0.
Findings
The numerical results showed similar trend as found by experimental analysis. In this study, several factors such as the pressure (Cp), lift (CL), drag (CD) coefficients, pressure and air velocity were taken into account for comparative analysis. The analysis paved the way in identification of constructively stable position of airship model with orientation of β=0 and α=0, with respect to air flow direction.
Practical implications
The current findings aid in the development of control mechanism of airship dynamics.
Originality/value
The experimental analysis of the airship model is presented along with computational fluid dynamics analysis of optimised shape of airship model in different orientations with respect to direction of airflow.
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Who is ultimately responsible for the harms that befall us? Corporations who make dangerous products, or the consumers who use them? The answer to this question has a profound…
Abstract
Who is ultimately responsible for the harms that befall us? Corporations who make dangerous products, or the consumers who use them? The answer to this question has a profound impact on how personal injury lawyers screen products liability cases. In this chapter, I analyze results from an experimental vignette study in which 83 lawyers were asked to evaluate a hypothetical products liability case. Half of the lawyers practice in states considered to be difficult jurisdictions for the practice of personal injury law due to tort reform and conservative political climates (Texas and Colorado), while the other half work in states that have been relatively unaffected by tort reform and are considered to be more “plaintiff friendly” (Pennsylvania and Massachusetts). While lawyers in reform states and non-reform states were equally likely to accept the hypothetical case with which they were presented, they approached the case in different ways, used different theories, and made different arguments in order to justify their acceptance of the case. Lawyers in states with tort reform were most likely to accept the case when they focused on the issue of corporate social responsibility – that is, what the defendant did wrong, how they violated the rules, and how they could have prevented the injury in question. Lawyers in non-reform states, however, were most likely to accept the case when they believed that jurors would feel sorry for the injured child and not find their client at fault for the injury.