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1 – 10 of 592Akilimali Ndatabaye Ephrem and McEdward Murimbika
Despite the merit of extant studies on career decision regrets, they are not well integrated, are developed at different speeds and differ in focus. Specifically, they do not…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the merit of extant studies on career decision regrets, they are not well integrated, are developed at different speeds and differ in focus. Specifically, they do not address an important question about the levels and antecedents of regret arising from choosing entrepreneurship instead of paid employment and vice versa. The authors adopted the regret regulation theory as foundation to examining the moderated effect of entrepreneurial potential (EP) on career choice regret (CCR) among employees and entrepreneurs.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors surveyed 721 employees and 724 entrepreneurs from a developing country and applied partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to test the hypotheses.
Findings
Employees regretted their career choice three times more when compared with entrepreneurs. However, the authors failed to conclude that the latter had three times better living conditions when compared with the former. EP negatively influenced the regret of being an entrepreneur in lieu of an employee while it positively influenced the regret of being an employee in lieu of an entrepreneur. The perceived opportunity cost of being a higher EP employee was three times greater when compared with that of being a lower EP entrepreneur. The effect of EP on CCR was mitigated or amplified by duration in the career, former career status, decision justifiability, and perceived environment's supportiveness.
Research limitations/implications
The design was cross-sectional, thus, the findings cannot be interpreted in the strict sense of causality.
Originality/value
The authors rely on an important yet often overlooked context of the choice between entrepreneurship and paid employment to test, clarify, and extend the regret regulation theory. The findings have novel human resource management and entrepreneurship policy implications.
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Arsalan Safari and Ali Salman Saleh
Various barriers discourage small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from entering or expanding their export activities in the international markets, especially SMEs in emerging…
Abstract
Purpose
Various barriers discourage small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from entering or expanding their export activities in the international markets, especially SMEs in emerging markets. The purpose of this study is to look at capacity building to accelerate SMEs’ export performance.
Design/methodology/approach
This study draws on contingency theory and takes a resource-based and market-based view to provide a holistic understanding of the issue. This study uses primary data collected via extensive surveys from active SMEs in three main industrial regions in Vietnam to undertake confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling for quantitative analysis.
Findings
The results confirm and show the significant effects of various determinants on firms’ export performance. These research findings have scientific contribution and significant implications by understanding the effective internal and external export drivers and mediators in an emerging market and enhancing SMEs’ export performance.
Practical implications
This study helps SMEs to improve their export performance by systemizing their decision-making in export activities, improving main export drivers highlighted in this study and developing required training programs for their teams. The outcomes also helps policymakers and regulators to improve the current SME ecosystem in Vietnam through training programs, improving policies, facilitating trades, providing more government assistance etc. The results of this study can be extended to other emerging markets with a similar economic structure and legal system.
Originality/value
Given the need for more work on export performance, this paper develops and tests a holistic conceptual framework that accounts for all aspects of export drivers, and provides a more comprehensive model for examining SMEs’ export drivers. This theoretical framework also incorporates three potential mediators (i.e. innovation strategy, export marketing strategy and business strategy) to investigate the effect of internal and external factors on export performance, highlighting the importance of the mediating effects on SMEs in achieving growth and competing in the international arena.
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Ragna Kemp Haraldsdottir and Johanna Gunnlaugsdottir
Many organizations are challenged by different and, perhaps, opposite, registration and protection obligations of information regarding their employees. The purpose of this paper…
Abstract
Purpose
Many organizations are challenged by different and, perhaps, opposite, registration and protection obligations of information regarding their employees. The purpose of this paper is to explore how organizations balance the registration obligations of the Icelandic equal pay standard (EPS) and the protection requirements of the general data protection regulation (GDPR). It aims to raise awareness of how information professionals can ensure that documentation on the education and skills of employees is authentic, traceable and secure.
Design/methodology/approach
The analytical framework covered multiple-cases and semi-structured interviews with various professionals and comprehensive documentary analysis.
Findings
The findings indicate that the organizations were not properly prepared for the implementation of the EPS and were hesitant regarding further registration of personal information due to GDPR. Documentary analysis also revealed critical attitudes towards the legal endorsement of the standard and its potential success.
Originality/value
There is a lack of studies explaining the juxtaposition of information and records management and the legal and regulatory environment. This paper provides a unique description of how information and recordkeeping practices function with the requirements of the EPS whilst complying with GDPR. The results could bring valuable opportunities for the information profession regarding the development, implementation, administration and maintenance of documentary evidence regarding the requirements of international and national standards and legislations and advance their collaboration with other professionals in the management of information.
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Prior studies have documented the phenomenon of rounding of analysts' earnings per share (EPS) forecasts in the USA. From the outset, it is unclear if analysts following Singapore…
Abstract
Purpose
Prior studies have documented the phenomenon of rounding of analysts' earnings per share (EPS) forecasts in the USA. From the outset, it is unclear if analysts following Singapore firms also similarly engage in the rounding of their EPS forecasts. This study aims to investigate the extent to which analysts engage in rounding of EPS forecasts of firms listed on the Singapore Exchange.
Design/methodology/approach
The author conducted his analysis on a sample of analyst EPS forecasts of companies listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange, downloaded from the International Brokers Estimate System (I/B/E/S). This sample consists of 24,219 annual EPS forecasts announced from June 2011 to September 2019. These forecasts were made for 285 unique firms by 48 unique analysts.
Findings
The author finds that there is substantial rounding of EPS forecasts, with 9.59% of EPS forecasts examined ending in five- or ten-cent intervals. In supplementary analysis, the author further finds that the level of rounding was comparable across two periods under examination, from 2011 to 2015 and from 2016 to 2019. The author also finds that there was substantial rounding even for forecasts of relatively large magnitudes (i.e. US$1.00 and above).
Originality/value
This study is the first to examine the rounding of analysts' EPS forecasts of Singapore firms. It extends the literature on analyst EPS forecasts and highlights how the phenomenon of rounding of analyst EPS forecasts of US firms extends to Singapore.
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Lyndon Lim and Wenjin Vikki Bo
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate an English Proficiency (EP) programme and its efficacy with respect to students' academic performance in a university within a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate an English Proficiency (EP) programme and its efficacy with respect to students' academic performance in a university within a multi-lingual context, as the programme had been in effect for some years.
Design/methodology/approach
A quasi-experimental approach was used to study the efficacy of an EP programme in a university within a multilingual context. Data across two academic years were used, along with regression discontinuity design.
Findings
Results suggest that the EP programme had a significant and positive intervention effect on students' initial semester grade point average. The programme effect size was found to be medium to large.
Research limitations/implications
It might be useful to extend the study for one more year for more concrete conclusions. As the study was anchored upon the structure of the 2016 EP programme, any major curricular/structural change to the programme warrants another study.
Practical implications
This study demonstrated that the implementation of EP programmes in higher education institutions is essential not only for international students who are foreign language speakers of English but also for domestic students in English-speaking countries, especially for bi/multilingual speakers.
Originality/value
Previous studies related to the efficacy of EP within higher education have focused on international students who speak English as an additional/foreign language. Further, most studies have focussed on students' self-reported experiences and have yielded disparate findings. This study contributes to scholarship as it addresses the under-researched area related to domestic students who speak English as the first language in a bi/multi-lingual context.
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Mengjie Huang, Kunpeng Sun and Yuan Xie
An emerging line of research examining the role of numerological superstition in the capital market shows that it has significant impact on investor behavior (Bhattacharya, Kuo…
Abstract
Purpose
An emerging line of research examining the role of numerological superstition in the capital market shows that it has significant impact on investor behavior (Bhattacharya, Kuo, Lin, & Zhao, 2018; Hirshleifer, Jian, & Zhang 2018). However, to the authors’ best knowledge, there is a dearth of evidence on whether numerological superstition affects corporate behavior. This study fills this void by examining the association between investors’ numerological superstition and earnings management using Chinese data.
Design/methodology/approach
Chinese culture views 6 and 8 as lucky numbers. Using Chinese publicly traded firms, the authors examine the relation between investors’ numerological superstition and corporate financial reporting behavior.
Findings
The results suggest that firms reporting lucky earnings-per-share (EPS) numbers ending with 6 or 8 are more likely to engage in earnings management. These firms also raise more capital through seasoned equity offerings in the following year; however, they do not have more capital investments. Instead, their controlling shareholders siphon a significant amount of capital through related party transactions. Overall, the findings suggest that managers collude with controlling shareholders to manage earnings by exploiting the superstitious beliefs of minority shareholders.
Originality/value
To the authors’ best knowledge, there is a dearth of evidence on whether numerological superstition affects corporate behavior. This study fills this void by examining the association between investors’ numerological superstition and earnings management using Chinese data.
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Rachel Gifford, Taco van der Vaart, Eric Molleman and M. Christien van der Linden
Emergency care delivery is a process requiring input from various healthcare professionals within the hospital. To deliver efficient and effective emergency care, professionals…
Abstract
Purpose
Emergency care delivery is a process requiring input from various healthcare professionals within the hospital. To deliver efficient and effective emergency care, professionals must integrate rapidly at multiple interfaces, working across functional, spatial and professional boundaries. Yet, the interdisciplinary nature of emergency care presents a challenge to the optimization of patient flow, as specialization and functional differentiation restrict integration efforts. This study aims to question what boundaries exist at the level of professionals and explores how these boundaries may come to influence integration and operational performance.
Design/methodology/approach
To provide a more holistic understanding of the inherent challenges to integration at the level of professionals and in contexts where professionals play a key role in determining operational performance, the authors carried out an in-depth case study at a busy, Level 1 trauma center in The Netherlands. In total, 28 interviews were conducted over an 18-month period.
Findings
The authors reveal the existence of structural, relational and cultural barriers between (medical) professionals from different disciplines. The study findings demonstrate how relational and cultural boundaries between professionals interrupt flows and delay service processes.
Originality/value
This study highlights the importance of interpersonal and cultural dynamics for internal integration and operational performance in emergency care processes. The authors unveil how the presence of professional boundaries creates opportunity for conflict and delays at important interfaces within the emergency care process, and can ultimately accumulate, disrupting patient flow and increasing lead times.
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Jean Claude Cachia, Fabrizio Ellul, Mark Harwood and Carmen Sammut
The purpose of this paper is to analyse why Malta continues to show the highest level of turnout for European Parliament (EP) elections in a country where voting is not…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse why Malta continues to show the highest level of turnout for European Parliament (EP) elections in a country where voting is not obligatory. By analysing the Maltese EP elections from 2004 to 2019, the paper seeks to understand why the Maltese engage with a second order election to the degree that they do.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, first assessing the context of the 2019 elections, the historical trends and then the factors that help explain why the Maltese continue to engage with EP elections.
Findings
The paper finds that the Maltese political system, highly polarised and dominated by two parties, primarily galvanises people to engage with elections, that it is more about party leadership than actual engagement with Europe and that second order elections in Malta are often run as first order elections.
Originality/value
This paper is the only systematic evaluation of the 2019 EP elections in Malta, discusses categorically that EP elections are rarely about Europe while also showing clearly that political parties can make second-order elections appear as first-order elections should the stakes be high enough.
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Hanna Leipämaa-Leskinen, Elina Närvänen and Hannu Makkonen
The purpose of this study is to define and analyse the emergence of collaborative engagement platforms (CEPs) as part of a rising platformisation phenomenon. Contrary to previous…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to define and analyse the emergence of collaborative engagement platforms (CEPs) as part of a rising platformisation phenomenon. Contrary to previous literature on engagement platforms (EPs), this study distinguishes between formalised and self-organised EPs and sheds light on collaborative EPs on which heterogeneous actors operate without central control by legislated firm actors.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on institutional work theory, this paper explores the institutional rules, norms and practices involved in the emergence of a new platform. This paper implements a longitudinal case study of a local food network called REKO and explores how engagement practices and institutional work patterns catalysed its emergence during 2013–2020.
Findings
The findings of this study show that actors engaged within the REKO platform participated in institutional work patterns of disruption, creation and maintenance, which drove the development of the platform and ensured its viability.
Research limitations/implications
This paper encourages future research to further explore how different types of EPs emerge and function.
Practical implications
The rise of CEPs pushes the dominant managerial orientation to progress from the management “of” a platform to managing “within” a platform. For managers, this means developing novel practices for engaging and committing a versatile set of actors to nurture open-ended, multi-sided collaboration.
Originality/value
This study contributes by conceptualising different types of platforms with a particular focus on CEPs and explicating the engagement practices and institutional work patterns that catalyse their emergence.
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Giacomo Ciambotti, Maria Cristina Zaccone and Matteo Pedrini
Small social entrepreneurs (SSEs) who operate in resource-constrained environments frequently use entrepreneurial bricolage (EB) to overcome such limitations. Research in social…
Abstract
Purpose
Small social entrepreneurs (SSEs) who operate in resource-constrained environments frequently use entrepreneurial bricolage (EB) to overcome such limitations. Research in social entrepreneurship mainly focuses on the outcomes of bricolage, with little knowledge about individual mechanisms that lead SSEs to use this approach. The authors fill this gap by investigating the role of entrepreneurial passion in fostering bricolage and the mediating effect of the sense of community.
Design/methodology/approach
To validate the theoretical model, the authors surveyed 279 SSEs operating in 7 African countries. The authors assessed the risk of common method bias, internal reliability and the validity of constructs and tested the hypotheses by performing linear regression analysis.
Findings
This study’s results demonstrate that passionate SSEs operating in resource-constrained contexts develop a sense of community by perceiving it as a valuable resource provider and that sense of community moves them to engage with EB.
Research limitations/implications
Within the field of social entrepreneurship, this study examines the importance of a sense of community among SSEs; this evidence opens new avenues for research on drivers of small businesses operating in developing economies.
Practical implications
This study has practical implications for SSEs on implementing bricolage, and guidelines for governments, policymakers and NGOs in better developing their policies and programs considering the role of communities.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature by highlighting individual-level drivers of bricolage for SSEs operating in resource constraints, and revealing the relevance of the subjective view of the role of the community.
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