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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 6 November 2023

Rezia Molfino, Francesco E. Cepolina, Emanuela Cepolina, Elvezia Maria Cepolina and Sara Cepolina

The purpose of this study is to analyze the robot trends of the next generation.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to analyze the robot trends of the next generation.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is divided into two sections: the key modern technology on which Europe's robotics industry has built its foundation is described. Then, the next key megatrends were analyzed.

Findings

Artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics are technologies of major importance for the development of humanity. This time is mature for the evolution of industrial and service robots. The perception of robot use has changed from threading to aiding. The cost of mass production of technological devices is decreasing, while a rich set of enabling technologies is under development. Soft mechanisms, 5G and AI have enabled us to address a wide range of new problems. Ethics should guide human behavior in addressing this newly available powerful technology in the right direction.

Originality/value

The paper describes the impact of new technology, such as AI and soft robotics. The world of work must react quickly to these epochal changes to enjoy their full benefits.

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 2 January 2024

David J. Thompson, Dong Zhao, Evangelos Ntotsios, Giacomo Squicciarini, Ester Cierco and Erwin Jansen

The vibration of the rails is a significant source of railway rolling noise, often forming the dominant component of noise in the important frequency region between 400 and…

Abstract

Purpose

The vibration of the rails is a significant source of railway rolling noise, often forming the dominant component of noise in the important frequency region between 400 and 2000 Hz. The purpose of the paper is to investigate the influence of the ground profile and the presence of the train body on the sound radiation from the rail.

Design/methodology/approach

Two-dimensional boundary element calculations are used, in which the rail vibration is the source. The ground profile and various different shapes of train body are introduced in the model, and results are observed in terms of sound power and sound pressure. Comparisons are also made with vibro-acoustic measurements performed with and without a train present.

Findings

The sound radiated by the rail in the absence of the train body is strongly attenuated by shielding due to the ballast shoulder. When the train body is present, the sound from the vertical rail motion is reflected back down toward the track where it is partly absorbed by the ballast. Nevertheless, the sound pressure at the trackside is increased by typically 0–5 dB. For the lateral vibration of the rail, the effects are much smaller. Once the sound power is known, the sound pressure with the train present can be approximated reasonably well with simple line source directivities.

Originality/value

Numerical models used to predict the sound radiation from railway rails have generally neglected the influence of the ground profile and reflections from the underside of the train body on the sound power and directivity of the rail. These effects are studied in a systematic way including comparisons with measurements.

Details

Railway Sciences, vol. 3 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2755-0907

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 15 December 2022

Neo Ligaraba, Brighton Nyagadza, Danie Dӧrfling and Qinisoliyakhulula Mhlengi Zulu

This study investigates the factors influencing re-usage intention of online and mobile grocery shopping among young adult consumers in South Africa.

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Abstract

Purpose

This study investigates the factors influencing re-usage intention of online and mobile grocery shopping among young adult consumers in South Africa.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from selected young adult participants using a stratified probability sampling strategy. Smart PLS was used to analyse the data.

Findings

The findings of the study indicate that perceived usefulness (PU), peer review (PR) and attitude (ATT) positively influence continuance intention (CI).

Research limitations/implications

In line with the available literature, there are few prior post-adoption studies that delineate the influence of individual characteristics on digital commerce usage activities. There is high mobile penetration as a result of positive digital commerce and mobile application usage and adoption, creating the need to investigate and better understand the drivers behind, not just adoption and usage, but continued use of digital commerce platforms and applications. Since the sample size is relatively small, further future research studies can test the same model with bigger sample sizes to assess generalisability of the results in different locations.

Practical implications

This study adds to the current literature by concentrating on the extent to which systems and marketing elements influence young adult customers' intention to continue using online and mobile grocery shopping platforms in South Africa.

Originality/value

The study adds value from a theoretical standpoint, contributing to the antecedent factors of the technology acceptance model (TAM), theory of reasoned action (TRA) and stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model and giving marketing academics insights into what aspects drive re-use of online and mobile grocery shopping and on what should be the focus.

Details

Arab Gulf Journal of Scientific Research, vol. 41 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1985-9899

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 9 December 2019

Julie Bayley and David Phipps

Building on the concept of “impact literacy” established in a previous paper from Bayley and Phipps, here we extend the principles of impact literacy in light of further insights…

Abstract

Building on the concept of “impact literacy” established in a previous paper from Bayley and Phipps, here we extend the principles of impact literacy in light of further insights into sector practice. More specifically, we focus on three additions needed in response to the sector-wide growth of impact: (1) differential levels of impact literacy; (2) institutional impact literacy and environment for impact; and (3) issues of ethics and values in research impact. This paper invites the sector to consider the relevance of all dimensions in establishing, maintaining and strengthening impact within the research landscape. We explore implications for individual professional development, institutional capacity building and ethical collaboration to maximise societal benefit.

Details

Emerald Open Research, vol. 1 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2631-3952

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 11 November 2021

Sonia San-Martín and Nadia Jiménez

The key concern nowadays is smartphone addiction and user profiles. Following the risk and protective factors framework, the authors aim to characterize smartphone users according…

1812

Abstract

Purpose

The key concern nowadays is smartphone addiction and user profiles. Following the risk and protective factors framework, the authors aim to characterize smartphone users according to two levels: (1) individual: referred to the use (i.e. boredom proneness, compulsive app downloading smartphone addiction) and (2) microsystem: referred to family and peers (i.e. family harmony and phubbing). Besides, the authors will derive useful managerial implications and strategies.

Design/methodology/approach

First, an extensive literature revision and in-depth interviews with experts were employed to identify the addiction-related variables at the individual and microsystem level. Second, information was collected from a sample of 275 Spanish smartphone users, and a K-means clustering algorithm was employed to classify smartphone users.

Findings

The proposed traffic lights schema identifies three users’ profiles (red, yellow and green) regarding their smartphone addiction and considering individual and microsystem critical variables.

Originality/value

This study proposes a practical and pioneer traffic lights schema to classify smartphone users and facilitate each cluster's strategies development.

研究目的

一個大家現時頗關注的事項就是智慧型手機癮和用戶檔案。遵循著風險和保護因子框架,我們擬根據兩個層面,去描述智慧型手機使用者的特性:(一) 個人層面: 這是指手機的使用方面 (即是:無聊傾向、強制性應用程式的下載、智慧型手機癮), 以及(二)微系統層面:這是指家庭和同儕 (即是:家庭和諧和低頭族)。此外,我們也會探討從中得到管理方面的啟示和一些有用的策略。

研究設計

我們首先進行廣泛的文獻回顧和深入訪問有關的專家,以確定在個人和微系統層面上與入迷成癮有關的變數。繼而從275名西班牙智慧型手機使用者中收集資料,然後以K均值聚類算法把智慧型手機使用者分類。

研究結果

我們提出的紅綠燈圖表,就用戶的智慧型手機癮,並考慮了個人和微系統的關鍵變數,識別了三個用戶檔案(紅、黃、綠)。

研究的原創性

本研究提出一個實用及有倡導性的紅綠燈圖表,把智慧型手機使用者分類,並促進每個群集戰略的制定。

Details

European Journal of Management and Business Economics, vol. 32 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2444-8451

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 1 February 2024

Frank Nana Kweku Otoo and Nissar Ahmed Rather

Highly committed, motivated and engaged employees assure organizational success and competitiveness. The study aims to examine the association between human resource development…

2163

Abstract

Purpose

Highly committed, motivated and engaged employees assure organizational success and competitiveness. The study aims to examine the association between human resource development (HRD) practices and employee engagement with organizational commitment as a mediating variable.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from 760 employees of 13 star-rated hotels comprising 5 (five-star) and 8 (four-star). The data supported the hypothesized relationships. Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate the proposed model and hypotheses. Construct validity and reliability were established through confirmatory factor analysis.

Findings

The results indicate that HRD practices and affective commitment are significantly associated. HRD practices and continuance commitment were shown to be non-significantly associated. HRD practices and normative commitment were shown to be non-significantly associated. Employee engagement and organizational commitment are significantly associated. The results further show that organizational commitment mediates the association between HRD practices and employee engagement.

Research limitations/implications

The generalizability of the findings will be constrained due to the research's hotel industry focus and cross sectional data.

Practical implications

The study's findings will serve as valuable pointers for stakeholders and policymakers of the hotel industry in the adoption, design and implementation of proactive HRD interventions to keep highly engaged and committed employees for organizational competitiveness and sustainability.

Originality/value

By evidencing empirically that organizational commitment mediates the nexus between HRD practices and employee engagement, the study extends the literature.

Details

Rajagiri Management Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0972-9968

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 14 November 2023

Markus Kantola, Hannele Seeck, Albert J. Mills and Jean Helms Mills

This paper aims to explore how historical context influences the content and selection of rhetorical legitimation strategies. Using case study method, this paper will focus on how…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore how historical context influences the content and selection of rhetorical legitimation strategies. Using case study method, this paper will focus on how insurance companies and labor tried to defend their legitimacy in the context of enactment of Medicare in the USA. What factors influenced the strategic (rhetorical) decisions made by insurance companies and labor unions in their institutional work?

Design/methodology/approach

The study is empirically grounded in archival research, involving an analysis of over 9,000 pages of congressional hearings on Medicare covering the period 1958–1965.

Findings

The authors show that rhetorical legitimation strategies depend significantly on the specific historical circumstances in which those strategies are used. The historical context lent credibility to certain arguments and organizations are forced to decide either to challenge widely held assumptions or take advantage of them. The authors show that organizations face strong incentives to pursue the latter option. Here, both the insurance companies and labor unions tried to show that their positions were consistent with classical liberal ideology, because of high respect of classical liberal principles among different stakeholders (policymakers, voters, etc.).

Research limitations/implications

It is uncertain how much the results of the study could be generalized. More information about the organizations whose use of rhetorics the authors studied could have strengthened our conclusions.

Practical implications

The practical relevancy of the revised paper is that the authors should not expect hegemony challenging rhetorics from organizations, which try to influence legislators (and perhaps the larger public). Perhaps (based on the findings), this kind of rhetorics is not even very effective.

Social implications

The paper helps to understand better how organizations try to advance their interests and gain acceptance among the stakeholders.

Originality/value

In this paper, the authors show how historical context in practice influence rhetorical arguments organizations select in public debates when their goal is to influence the decision-making of their audience. In particular, the authors show how dominant ideology (or ideologies) limit the options organizations face when they are choosing their strategies and arguments. In terms of the selection of rhetorical justification strategies, the most pressing question is not the “real” broad based support of certain ideologies. Insurance company and labor union representatives clearly believed that they must emphasize liberal values (or liberal ideology) if they wanted to gain legitimacy for their positions. In existing literature, it is often assumed that historical context influence the selection of rhetorical strategies but how this in fact happens is not usually specified. The paper shows how interpretations of historical contexts (including the ideological context) in practice influence the rhetorical strategies organizations choose.

Details

Journal of Management History, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1751-1348

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 7 September 2023

Nour R. El Amine and Rosalía Cascón-Pereira

Despite being one of the most used dependent variables in expatriate management research, no clear-cut understanding exists of what expatriate success means. Thus, this study aims…

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Abstract

Purpose

Despite being one of the most used dependent variables in expatriate management research, no clear-cut understanding exists of what expatriate success means. Thus, this study aims to propose an integrative definition of expatriate success by providing an overview of expatriate success's dimensions, antecedents, and their interplay.

Design/methodology/approach

A systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted to achieve the purpose. A total of 249 empirical studies (quantitative 111, qualitative 50, mixed-methods 17), literature reviews (67) and meta-analyses (4) on expatriate success were reviewed from Web of Science and Scopus databases published from 1990 until December 2021. The study selection criteria followed the PRISMA flowchart steps, and then descriptive and network analyses were performed to identify expatriates' success dimensions, antecedents and their interplay.

Findings

The findings show the interplay among antecedents and dimensions of expatriate success across three levels (individual, interpersonal and organisational) to clarify the concept of expatriate success. Also, the study offers a comprehensive definition of expatriate success based on the dimensions identified.

Research limitations/implications

The suggested definition of expatriate success elucidates the “atheoretical”, multidimensional and socially constructed nature of the construct and hence, calls for more “theoretical”, multidimensional and subjective considerations of the term to ground human resource management practices addressed to attain expatriates' success.

Originality/value

This paper provides an integrative definition of expatriate success, giving greater insight into the construct, in addition to critically reflecting on it.

Details

Career Development International, vol. 29 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1362-0436

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 13 March 2023

Georgia Zara, Henriette Bergstrøm and David P. Farrington

This paper aims to present new evidence from the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development (CSDD) showing the extent to which obstetric (e.g. abnormal birth weight, confinement at…

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to present new evidence from the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development (CSDD) showing the extent to which obstetric (e.g. abnormal birth weight, confinement at birth, severe abnormality of pregnancy, etc.) and early childhood and family factors (illegitimate child, unwanted conception, family overcrowding, etc.) have predictive effects on psychopathic traits measured later in life at age 48 years.

Design/methodology/approach

Data collected in the CSDD are analysed. This is a prospective longitudinal study of 411 London men from age 8 to age 61 years.

Findings

The results suggest that none of the obstetric problems were predictive of adult psychopathy. However, some other early childhood factors were significant. Unwanted conception (by the mother) was significantly associated with high psychopathy. The likelihood of being an unwanted child was higher when the mother was younger (19 years or less), and when the child was illegitimate. The poor health of the mother and living in an overcrowded family were also significant in predicting psychopathy in adulthood, as well as both psychopathic personality (F1) and psychopathic behaviour (F2).

Originality/value

These findings suggest the influence of very early emotional tensions and problematic social background in predicting psychopathic traits in adulthood (at age 48 years). They also emphasise the importance of investigating further the very early roots of psychopathic traits.

Details

Journal of Criminal Psychology, vol. 14 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2009-3829

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 4 January 2022

Philip Roth

Informal knowledge sharing interactions (IKSI) are of particular value for innovation projects. This is especially true for unplanned IKSI, because they are even more likely to…

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Abstract

Purpose

Informal knowledge sharing interactions (IKSI) are of particular value for innovation projects. This is especially true for unplanned IKSI, because they are even more likely to provide non-redundant knowledge and new perspectives than planned IKSI. Seminal studies have shown that the formation of unplanned IKSI can be explained on the basis of spatial structures. Strictly speaking, however, these studies only explain unplanned encounters. Whether unplanned IKSI result from these unplanned encounters, though, cannot be satisfactorily explained on the basis of spatial configurations alone. The purpose of this paper is to tackle this explanatory gap by unraveling the fundamental social processes by application of the symbolic interaction theory.

Design/methodology/approach

For this purpose, the formation of 132 IKSI on innovation projects from three research and development departments of large companies was recorded in detail using a combination of diaries and interviews. The data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis.

Findings

The analysis reveals that IKSI cause symbolic costs (image damages), and that these costs vary between types of social situations. Because actors anticipate situation-specific costs, their propensity to initiate IKSI can be explained in terms of the situations in which they encounter one another. Furthermore, the analysis reveals six particularly relevant characteristics of situations and further elaborates the basic argument by analyzing their functioning.

Originality/value

The paper complements previous explanations of unplanned IKSI by opening up the social processes underlying their formation.

Details

European Journal of Innovation Management, vol. 26 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1460-1060

Keywords

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