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This paper aims to determine the hierarchical relationship between building partnership competencies for public sector educational leaders (ELs) administering and running the education system.

An interpretive structural modelling (ISM) technique was used to develop a hierarchical structural model for building partnership competencies. Nominal group technique (NGT) was used with the help of experts’ suggestions and opinions at the beginning of ISM to identify building partnership competencies. Also, the NGT was used to rank the competencies. A structural self-integration matrix was developed based on experts’ voting and agreement. Cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to classification (MICMAC) analysis was used to analyse the relationship among the building partnership competencies. A total of 11 experts were chosen for NGT and ISM sessions.

A total of 16 building partnership competencies were identified for this study. The competencies were compartmentalised into four domains: creative collaboration, create network, develop collective culture and encouraging constructive dialogue. MICMAC analysis shows each domain of the model of its key competencies ranked at the highest level in the ISM model and dependent competencies.

ISM is a modelling approach that is based solely on expert opinions and responses. Its limitation can be overcome with the help of empirical analysis.

This study supports the public sector ELs’ professional development and upskilling. In addition, the model developed in the study will be helpful for stakeholders, human resources division and policymakers to incorporate building partnership competencies in the training and development of ELs.

This study helps to identify and prioritise building partnership competencies using NGT and ISM. Literature shows that numerous authors have used the ISM approach. Still, the combination of NGT approach is limited. Therefore, the model developed in the study was based solely on experts’ opinions and suggestion based on their experiences and knowledge.

This study aims to convey lessons learned from two sustainability initiatives at Norway’s largest university. This contributes to knowledge-based discussions of how future, sustainable higher education institutions (HEIs) infrastructures should be envisioned and planned if the fundamental uncertainty of the future development of learning, researching and teaching is acknowledged.

This study was submitted on 24 January 2023 and revised on 14 September 2023. HEIs, particularly when they are engaged in research activities, have a considerable environmental footprint. At the same time, HEIs are the main producers and disseminators of knowledge about environmental challenges and their employees have a high awareness of the urgent need to mitigate climate change and biodiversity loss. In this study, the gap between knowledge and environmental performance is addressed as a question of infrastructural change, which is explored in two case studies.

The first case study presents limitations of ambitious, top-down sustainability planning for HEI infrastructures: support from employees and political support are central for this strategy to succeed, but both could not be secured in the case presented leading to an abandonment of all sustainability ambitions. The second case study exposes important limitations of a circular approach: regulatory and legal barriers were found against a rapid and radical circular transformation, but also more fundamental factors such as the rationality of an institutional response to uncertainty by rapid cycles of discarding the old and investing in new equipment and facilities.

Being based on qualitative methods, the case studies do not claim representativity for HEIs worldwide or even in Norway. Many of the factors described are contingent on their specific context. The goal, instead, is to contribute to learning by presenting an in-depth and context-sensitive report on obstacles encountered in two major sustainability initiatives.

Research reporting on sustainability initiatives too often focuses descriptively on the plans or reports the successes while downplaying problems and failures. This study deviates from this widespread practice by analysing reasons for failure informed by a theoretical frame (infrastructural change). Moreover, the juxtaposition of two cases within the same context shows the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to infrastructural change particularly clearly.

This study aims to fill this research gap by providing a comprehensive exploration of the transnationalization of higher education in China and Asia, with a particular focus on how institutions maintain quality assurance and how student learning experiences are reported.

The transnationalization of higher education involves educational programs and services provided by institutions or universities in a country other than their home country where students from diverse countries are trained. The goal of transnational education is to offer higher education to students who face obstacles in physically entering the host country of a transnational program, encourage globalization, enhance cross-cultural communication and improve the quality of education by expanding students' learning opportunities, providing diverse educational experiences and elevating academic standards. The transnationalization of higher education has become a crucial endeavor in Asia, especially in countries such as China, Malaysia and Singapore, where rapid economic development and globalization have prompted the need to evolve into knowledge-driven economies to meet the increasing demand for higher education. The factors driving the expansion of transnational higher education in China and Asia include the desire for top-quality education, the allure of international students, the establishment of worldwide collaborations and aspirations to be recognized as centers of academic distinction. The rapid expansion and increasing importance of transnational higher education has underscored the vital role of quality assurance. To guarantee educational quality, maintain institutional reputation and improve overall student outcomes, several agencies and frameworks have been established to uphold international standards.

Based upon extensive literature reveiw and case analysis, our findings indicated the quality assurance assessment varies and is primarily influenced by host countries and provider polices. However, students in transnational higher education programs report satisfaction with their experienes and the quality of their programs, which tends to meet their expecations.

This study presents the first comprehsensive literatrue rewiew and case analysis of how transnational higher education in China, Sinapore, Malaysia and Vietnam uphold quality assurance and report students learning experiences. Additionally, the findings highlight why future researceh on this topic is crucial and why forestering colloboration among countries in Asian regions is imporant in term of growing geo-politics.

The study aims to analyze the effectiveness of digital rhetoric persuasion on GenZ purchase decision. Digital rhetoric (DR) is an art of persuasion used in social media communication to shape and influence the course of an individual. It has been used in social media advertisements (SMAs) to increase its perceived effectiveness. GenZ consumers are more vibrant than previous generations’ consumers because of high levels of literacy and capacity to adapt to new technology. Therefore, understanding the effects of rhetorical support decisions to act on and mold consumers’ reasoning and judgment is particularly significant in relation to GenZ purchasing decisions and the rhetorical persuasive methods. Concurrently, the moderating effect of generation cohort theory also needs to be examined.

The threshold model for consumers’ purchase decisions in the form of logistic regression has been applied to examine the impact of DR through SMAs on the purchase intention (PI) of GenZ consumers. Simultaneously, the moderating effect of generation cohort theory is being examined by comparative analysis of different generations’ PI moderation by DR effect.

The results of the current study reveal that DR via SMAs has a positive and significant influence on GenZ consumers’ PI, whereas other older generation consumers do not get similarly affected by the same.

In an emerging economy like India, where 30% of the population belongs to the GenZ category and the digital advertising industry is growing by double digits, the present study takes a novel approach to examine the impact of DR via SMAs on GenZ consumers’ PI. Concurrently, it also provides an understanding of the moderation effect of generation cohort theory on perceived effectiveness of DR.

This paper aims to investigate whether patterns of human resource management (HRM) are converging or diverging across the globe.

The topic is analysed through a review of existing literature in the space, introducing the drivers for MNCs to seek the global integration of HRM practices, as well as the strategies MNCs may use for practice transfer. The debates of convergence and divergence in relation to HRM practices are then discussed in further detail whilst focusing on two key areas impacting these debates: the cultural factors and the institutional, political and economic factors.

This paper suggests that patterns of HRM practices are not converging to one set of best practices approach, and there are numerous other factors which influence convergence, such as local business systems, legal practices and cultural differences. This paper suggests that there is a mix of some HRM practices converging due to MNC influence, whereas others continue to diverge.

A holistic discussion is held on the theory of convergence and divergence, which will benefit HR professionals in assessing the state of convergence in their own organisation and common pitfalls to be wary of.

This chapter discusses the extension of legal equality between male and female citizens in four states in North Africa – Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and Algeria – through one specific lens: A married woman's legal capacity to initiate and obtain divorce without the husband's consent. Building on the works of Stein Rokkan and Reinhard Bendix on the expansion of citizenship to the ‘lower classes’, it is argued that amendments in divorce law by introducing in-court divorce for women, in addition to out-of-court divorce, is a significant institutional change that extends legal equality between men and women. The introduction of in-court divorce expands female citizenship by bolstering woman's juridical autonomy and capacity in state law. Changes in divorce laws are thus part of state centralization by means of standardizing rules that regulate family law through public administrative institutions rather than religious organizations. Two questions are addressed: First, how did amendments in divorce laws occur after independence? Second, in which ways did women's bolstered legal capacity in divorce have a spill over effect on reforms in other patriarchal state laws? Based on observations on sequences of change in four states in North Africa, it is argued that amendments that equalize between men and women in divorce should be seen as a key driver for reforms in other state laws, that reduce legal inequality between male and female citizens. In all four states, women's citizenship was extended in nationality law and criminal law after amendments in divorce law gave women unilateral legal power to exit a marital relationship.

After the electoral victory in 2018, the newly formed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government presented its National Education Policy Framework, chalking out its priorities of bringing more than 22 million out-of-school children to schools, improving educational quality, and introducing a uniform education system in the country. However, the government’s grand ambitions, transpired quickly, only to produce a draft of a new unified curriculum in 2020. This chapter investigates the newly formulated Single National Curriculum (SNC) in Pakistan by using the lens of Critical Cultural Political Economy of Education (CCPEE). To understand the endogenous and exogenous factors shaping the SNC, the chapter argues that securitization and neoliberalization are the significant factors informing the development and the production of the new curriculum.

To cope with the existing pandemic situation and to be organizationally responsive, firms need to be strategically flexible, where they need to develop dynamic capabilities (DCs) by continuously reconfiguring their resource base. To address such challenges, firms heavily rely on information and communication technologies (ICT) because of advancement in disruptive technologies. This study aims to explore techniques used by higher education institutional (HEI) leaders to successfully address challenges posed by global disruption, i.e. COVID-19 with the help of advanced ICT software such as Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams.

A qualitative approach was adopted to explore strategic factors such as strategic flexibility (SF) and DC that disclose shortcomings in the current extant literature. A total of 15 interviews were conducted with heads of departments of HEIs in the United Arab Emirates. Data were analyzed using NVivo software.

The findings suggested three dimensions of SF (resources, operational and collaborative) and four dimensions of DC (strategic planning, innovative, adaptability and technological) for firms to adopt to be strategically flexible, where DC serves as building blocks of SF.

This research provides a framework as an avenue for future researchers and practitioners on how to strategically manage their resources and be strategically flexible in turbulent environment such as pandemics. Theory-based investigations on strategic capabilities and DC from resource-based perspective are still under-researched, emphasizing the need for theoretically based research on strategic responsiveness, especially during the times of environmental complexities such as COVID-19 pandemics. This research enriches strategic management research by exploring the important antecedents of organizational responsiveness, including SF and DC together with the support of human factor, i.e. leadership qualities of HEIs managers. This study, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, is among the first to systematically explore main dimensions of DC and SF based on the resource-based theory of strategic management in the Middle Eastern context.