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1 – 10 of 310Mohamad Javad Baghiat Esfahani and Saeed Ketabi
This study attempts to evaluate the effect of the corpus-based inductive teaching approach with multiple academic corpora (PICA, CAEC and Oxford Corpus of Academic English) and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study attempts to evaluate the effect of the corpus-based inductive teaching approach with multiple academic corpora (PICA, CAEC and Oxford Corpus of Academic English) and conventional deductive teaching approach (i.e., multiple-choice items, filling the gap, matching and underlining) on learning academic collocations by Iranian advanced EFL learners (students learning English as a foreign language).
Design/methodology/approach
This is a quasi-experimental, quantitative and qualitative study.
Findings
The result showed the experimental group outperformed significantly compared with the control group. The experimental group also shared their perception of the advantages and disadvantages of the corpus-assisted language teaching approach.
Originality/value
Despite growing progress in language pedagogy, methodologies and language curriculum design, there are still many teachers who experience poor performance in their students' vocabulary, whether in comprehension or production. In Iran, for example, even though mandatory English education begins at the age of 13, which is junior and senior high school, students still have serious problems in language production and comprehension when they reach university levels.
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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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Theo J.D. Bothma and Ina Fourie
Needs for information literacy, disparities in society, bridging digital divides, richness of information sources in electronic (e-)environments and the value of dictionaries have…
Abstract
Purpose
Needs for information literacy, disparities in society, bridging digital divides, richness of information sources in electronic (e-)environments and the value of dictionaries have often been propagated. To improve information sources and information literacy training, information behaviour must be understood (i.e. all information activities). This paper conceptualises new opportunities for information sources (e.g. electronic dictionaries) to all society sectors, dictionary literacy and research lenses such as lexicography to supplement information literacy and behaviour research.
Design/methodology/approach
A scoping review of information literacy and behaviour, lexicography and dictionary literature grounds the conceptualisation of dictionary literacy, its alignment with information literacy, information activities and information behaviour and lexicography as additional research lens.
Findings
Research lenses must acknowledge dictionary use in e-environments, information activities and skills, meanings of information and dictionary literacy, the value of e-dictionaries, alignment with information behaviour research that guides the development of information sources and interdisciplinary research from, e.g. lexicography – thus contextualisation.
Research limitations/implications
Research implications – information behaviour and information literacy research can be enriched by lexicography as research lens. Further conceptualisation could align information behaviour, information literacy and dictionary literacy.
Practical implications
Dictionary training, aligned with information literacy training, can be informed by this paper.
Social implications
The value of dictionary literacy for all sectors of societies can be improved.
Originality/value
Large bodies of literature on information behaviour and lexicography individually do not cover combined insights from both.
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Wenyan Yu, Yiping Jiang and Tingting Fu
This study holistically and systematically consolidates the available research on digital reading to reveal the research trends of the past 20 years. Moreover, it explores the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study holistically and systematically consolidates the available research on digital reading to reveal the research trends of the past 20 years. Moreover, it explores the thematic evolution, hotspots and developmental characteristics of digital reading. This study, therefore, has the potential to serve as a research guide to researchers and educators in relevant fields.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors applied a bibliometric approach using Derwent Data Analyzer and VOSviewer to retrieve 2,456 publications for 2003–2022 from the Web of Science (WoS) database.
Findings
The results revealed that most studies' participants were university students and the experimental methods and questionnaires were preferred in digital reading researches. Among the influential countries or regions, institutions, journals and authors, the United States of America, University of London, Electronic Library and Chen, respectively, accounted for the greatest number of publications. Moreover, the authors identified the developmental characteristics and research trends in the field of digital reading by analyzing the evolution of keywords from 2003–2017 to 2018–2022 and the most frequently cited papers by year. “E-books,” “reading comprehension” and “literacy” were the primary research topics. In addition, “attention,” “motivation,” “cognitive load,” “dyslexia,” “engagement,” “eye-tracking,” “eye movement,” “systematic analysis,” “meta-analysis,” “smartphone” and “mobile reading/learning” were potential new research hotspots.
Originality/value
This study provides valuable insights into the current status, research direction, thematic evolution and developmental characteristics in the field of digital reading. Therefore, it has implications for publishers, researchers, librarians, educators and teachers in the digital reading field.
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Namita Jain, Vikas Gupta, Valerio Temperini, Dirk Meissner and Eugenio D’angelo
This paper aims to provide insight into the evolving relationship between humans and machines, understanding its multifaceted impact on our lifestyle and landscape in the past as…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide insight into the evolving relationship between humans and machines, understanding its multifaceted impact on our lifestyle and landscape in the past as well as in the present, with implications for the near future. It uses bibliometric analysis combined with a systematic literature review to identify themes, trace historical developments and offer a direction for future human–machine interactions (HMIs).
Design/methodology/approach
To provide thorough coverage of publications from the previous four decades, the first section presents a text-based cluster bibliometric analysis based on 305 articles from 2,293 initial papers in the Scopus and Web of Science databases produced between 1984 and 2022. The authors used VOS viewer software to identify the most prominent themes through cluster identification. This paper presents a systematic literature review of 63 qualified papers using the PRISMA framework.
Findings
Next, the systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis revealed four major historical themes and future directions. The results highlight four major research themes for the future: from Taylorism to advanced technologies; machine learning and innovation; Industry 4.0, Society 5.0 and cyber–physical system; and psychology and emotions.
Research limitations/implications
There is growing anxiety among humankind that in the future, machines will overtake humans to replace them in various roles. The current study investigates the evolution of HMIs from their historical roots to Society 5.0, which is understood to be a human-centred society. It balances economic advancement with the resolution of social problems through a system that radically integrates cyberspace and physical space. This paper contributes to research and current limited knowledge by identifying relevant themes and offering scope for future research directions. A close look at the analysis posits that humans and machines complement each other in various roles. Machines reduce the mechanical work of human beings, bringing the elements of humanism and compassion to mechanical tasks. However, in the future, smart innovations may yield machines with unmatched dexterity and capability unthinkable today.
Originality/value
This paper attempts to explore the ambiguous and dynamic relationships between humans and machines. The present study combines systematic review and bibliometric analysis to identify prominent trends and themes. This provides a more robust and systematic encapsulation of this evolution and interaction, from Taylorism to Society 5.0. The principles of Taylorism are extended and redefined in the context of HMIs, especially advanced technologies.
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Despite the well-recognized importance of recycled water, the study of industry-peer pressure on recycled water is relatively new. This study investigates how organizations…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the well-recognized importance of recycled water, the study of industry-peer pressure on recycled water is relatively new. This study investigates how organizations experience and react to industry-peer pressure to set recycled water targets. Additionally, this study investigates the role of board chairs involved in sustainability committees in contributing to responses to industry-peer pressure.
Design/methodology/approach
Using Eviews 12, this study employed a pooled logistic regression model to analyze data from 1,346 firms on Taiwan and Taipei exchanges (2017–2020).
Findings
The findings revealed that frequency-based imitation drives recycled water target-setting diffusion. However, there is no direct relationship between outcome-based imitation and recycled water target-setting. Notably, outcome-based imitation drives the adoption of recycled water target-setting of firms with board-chair membership in sustainability committees.
Research limitations/implications
This study faces certain data limitations. First, this study primarily focuses on water recycling. Future research could explore other ways to reduce water usage, such as using water-efficient equipment. Second, this study gathered information solely on the presence or absence of a board chairperson on the sustainability committee. Future researchers could explore the impact of the composition of sustainability committee on recycled water target-setting. Lastly, the sample used in this study is restricted to Taiwan's corporations that existed during 2017–2020. Future researchers may consider adopting a longitudinal design in other economies to address this limitation.
Practical implications
The findings of this study offer several guidelines and implications for recycled water target-setting and the composition of sustainability committees. It responds to an urgent call for solutions to water shortages when pressure from governments and nongovernmental organizations is relatively absent. The number of industry peers that have already set recycled water targets is indispensable for motivating firms to set their own recycled water targets. In terms of insufficient water-related regulatory pressure and normative pressure, this study found evidence suggesting that the direct motivation for setting recycled water targets stems from mimetic pressures via frequency-based imitation. The evidence in this study suggests that policymakers should require companies to disclose their peers’ recycled water target information, as doing so serves as an alternative means to achieving SDG 6.3.
Social implications
Recycled water target-setting might be challenging. Water recycling practices may face strong resistance and require substantial additional resources (Zhang and Tang, 2019; Gao et al., 2019; Gu et al., 2023). Therefore, this study suggests that firms should ensure the mindfulness of board members in promoting the welfare of the natural environment when making recycled water target-setting decisions. To reap the second-mover advantage, firms must consider the conditions in which board members can more effectively play their role. Corporations may help their chairpersons in setting recycled water targets by recruiting them as members of sustainability committees. Meanwhile, chairpersons tend to activate accurate mental models when the water conservation performance of pioneering industry peers is strong enough to indicate the potential benefits of adopting recycled water target-setting. Investors’ and stakeholders’ understanding of how the composition of sustainability committees is related to recycled water target-setting may help to identify the potential drivers of firms’ water responsibility. Investors and stakeholders should distinguish firms in terms of the board chair’s membership of their sustainability committee and focus on water-use reduction outcomes in the industry. This study provides insights into circumstances whereby chairpersons help to restore the water ecosystem.
Originality/value
This study explains how frequency-based and outcome-based imitation are two prominent mechanisms underlying the industry-peer pressure concerning recycled water target-setting. Moreover, this study fills literature gaps related to the moderating roles of board-chair membership in sustainability committees concerning industry-peer pressure on recycled water target-setting.
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Elena Fedorova, Daria Aleshina and Igor Demin
The goal of this work is to evaluate how digital transformation disclosure in corporate news and press releases affects stock prices. We examine American and Chinese companies…
Abstract
Purpose
The goal of this work is to evaluate how digital transformation disclosure in corporate news and press releases affects stock prices. We examine American and Chinese companies from the energy and industry sectors for two periods: pre-COVID-19 and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
To estimate the effects of disclosure of information related to digital transformation, we applied the bag-of-words (BOW) method. As the benchmark dictionary, we used Kindermann et al. (2021), with the addition of original dictionaries created via Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) analysis. We also employed panel regression analysis and random forest.
Findings
For USA energy sector, all aspects of digital transformation were insignificant in pre-COVID-19 period, while sustainability topics became significant during the pandemic. As for the Chinese energy sector, digital strategy implementation was significant in pre-pandemic period, while digital technologies adoption and business model innovation became relevant in COVID-19 period. The results show the greater significance of digital transformation aspects for industrials sectors compared to the energy sector. The result of random forest analysis proves the efficiency of the authors’ dictionary which could be applied in practice. The developed methodology can be considered relevant.
Originality/value
The research contributes to the existing literature in theoretical, empirical and methodological ways. It applies signaling and information asymmetry theories to the financial markets, digital transformation being used as an instrument. The methodological contribution of this article can be described in several ways. Firstly, our data collection process differs from that in previous papers, as the data are gathered “from investor’s point of view”, i.e. we use all public information published by the company. Secondly, in addition to the use of existing dictionaries based on Kindermann et al. (2021), with our own modifications, we apply the original methodology based on LDA analysis. The empirical contribution of this research is the following. Unlike past works, we do not focus on particular technologies (Hong et al., 2023) connected with digital transformation, but try to cover all multi-dimensional aspects of the transformational process and aim to discover the most significant one.
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Na Xu, Yanxiang Liang, Chaoran Guo, Bo Meng, Xueqing Zhou, Yuting Hu and Bo Zhang
Safety management plays an important part in coal mine construction. Due to complex data, the implementation of the construction safety knowledge scattered in standards poses a…
Abstract
Purpose
Safety management plays an important part in coal mine construction. Due to complex data, the implementation of the construction safety knowledge scattered in standards poses a challenge. This paper aims to develop a knowledge extraction model to automatically and efficiently extract domain knowledge from unstructured texts.
Design/methodology/approach
Bidirectional encoder representations from transformers (BERT)-bidirectional long short-term memory (BiLSTM)-conditional random field (CRF) method based on a pre-training language model was applied to carry out knowledge entity recognition in the field of coal mine construction safety in this paper. Firstly, 80 safety standards for coal mine construction were collected, sorted out and marked as a descriptive corpus. Then, the BERT pre-training language model was used to obtain dynamic word vectors. Finally, the BiLSTM-CRF model concluded the entity’s optimal tag sequence.
Findings
Accordingly, 11,933 entities and 2,051 relationships in the standard specifications texts of this paper were identified and a language model suitable for coal mine construction safety management was proposed. The experiments showed that F1 values were all above 60% in nine types of entities such as security management. F1 value of this model was more than 60% for entity extraction. The model identified and extracted entities more accurately than conventional methods.
Originality/value
This work completed the domain knowledge query and built a Q&A platform via entities and relationships identified by the standard specifications suitable for coal mines. This paper proposed a systematic framework for texts in coal mine construction safety to improve efficiency and accuracy of domain-specific entity extraction. In addition, the pretraining language model was also introduced into the coal mine construction safety to realize dynamic entity recognition, which provides technical support and theoretical reference for the optimization of safety management platforms.
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Elena Fedorova, Alexandr Nevredinov and Pavel Drogovoz
The purpose of our study is to study the impact of chief executive officer (CEO) optimism and narcissism on the company's capital structure.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of our study is to study the impact of chief executive officer (CEO) optimism and narcissism on the company's capital structure.
Design/methodology/approach
(1) The authors opt for regression, machine learning and text analysis to explore the impact of narcissism and optimism on the capital structure. (2) We analyze CEO interviews and employ three methods to evaluate narcissism: the dictionary proposed by Anglin, which enabled us to assess the following components: authority, superiority, vanity and exhibitionism; count of first-person singular and plural pronouns and count of CEO photos displayed. Following this approach, we were able to make a more thorough assessment of corporate narcissism. (3) Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) technique helped to find the differences in the corporate rhetoric of narcissistic and non-narcissistic CEOs and to find differences between the topics of interviews and letters provided by narcissistic and non-narcissistic CEOs.
Findings
Our research demonstrates that narcissism has a slight and nonlinear impact on capital structure. However, our findings suggest that there is an impact of pessimism and uncertainty under pandemic conditions when managers predicted doom and completely changed their strategies. We applied various approaches to estimate the gender distribution of CEOs and found that the median values of optimism and narcissism do not depend on sex. Using LDA, we examined the content and key topics of CEO interviews, defined as positive and negative. There are some differences in the topics: narcissistic CEOs are more likely to speak about long-term goals, projects and problems; they often talk about their brand and business processes.
Originality/value
First, we examine the COVID-19 pandemic period and evaluate how CEO optimism and pessimism affect their financial decisions under specific external conditions. The pandemic forced companies to shift the way they worked: either to switch to the remote work model or to interrupt operations; to lose or, on the contrary, attract clients. In addition, during this period, corporate management can have a different outlook on their company’s financial performance and goals. The LDA technique helped to find the differences in the corporate rhetoric of narcissistic and non-narcissistic CEOs. Second, we use three methods to evaluate narcissism. Third, the research is based on a set of advanced methods: machine learning techniques (random forest to reveal a nonlinear impact of CEO optimism and narcissism on capital structure).
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Jinfang Tian, Xiaofan Meng, Lee Li, Wei Cao and Rui Xue
This study aims to investigate how firms of different sizes respond to competitive pressure from peers.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate how firms of different sizes respond to competitive pressure from peers.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employs machine learning techniques to measure competitive pressure based on management discussion and analysis (MD&A) documents and then utilises the constructed pressure indicator to explore the relationship between competitive pressure and corporate risk-taking behaviours amongst firms of different sizes.
Findings
We find that firm sizes are positively associated with their risk-taking behaviours when firms respond to competitive pressure. Large firms are inclined to exhibit a high level of risk-taking behaviours, whereas small firms tend to make conservative decisions. Regional growth potential and institutional ownership moderate the relationships.
Originality/value
Utilising text mining techniques, this study constructs a novel quantitative indicator to measure competitive pressure perceived by focal firms and demonstrates the heterogeneous behaviour of firms of different sizes in response to competitive pressure from peers, advancing research on competitive market pressures.
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