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11 – 20 of 316The purpose of this study is to explore the human resource management practices and the associated dimensions of quality of employment in university spin-offs. Through this, it…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the human resource management practices and the associated dimensions of quality of employment in university spin-offs. Through this, it becomes possible to explore and recognize the practices and difficulties placed on the employees of university spin-offs.
Design/methodology/approach
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) framework to assess the quality of work in the European Union is adopted. It is used a qualitative approach through the development of four case studies at university spin-offs located in Portugal. These case studies relate to four sectors of activity, such as information technology, urban mobility, health and electronics.
Findings
The findings reveal that most of the challenges of quality of work in a spin-off university are common to those in an SME or micro company. Among these factors, the authors highlight the lack of job security, reduced or no social protection and very low income and nonwage pecuniary benefits. Other factors specific to university spin-offs also emerge, such as the numerous opportunities for skills development and training, the potentialities to become an entrepreneur and the high number of working hours that are necessary to face the vibrant market dynamics.
Originality/value
The study aims to contribute, in a theoretical and empirically grounded basis, to the knowledge about the quality of employment in a spin-off university. This work becomes relevant for policymakers to understand in depth the specific challenges faced by employees of a spin-off university.
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Fernando Almeida and Zoltan Buzady
This study aims to present a practical approach to recognizing leadership styles by adopting a serious game in the context of an entrepreneurship course in higher education.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to present a practical approach to recognizing leadership styles by adopting a serious game in the context of an entrepreneurship course in higher education.
Design/methodology/approach
The action-research methodology is adopted to explore how the various leadership styles are perceived and assimilated by students. Furthermore, students are organized into eight groups to explore this phenomenon through a thematic analysis.
Findings
The findings reveal that transformational and transactional leadership can coexist and be applied in organizational management. The results also indicate that students with relevant professional experience have a greater ability to identify the benefits and challenges associated with each leadership style as they recognize these styles throughout their professional careers.
Originality/value
This paper mainly offers practical implications by presenting an alternative and complementary approach to exploring leadership styles. Through this approach, students can recognize the various leadership styles in the game personas and realize their impact on the dynamics of an organization.
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André Rocha and Fernando Almeida
This study aims to explore worldwide innovative solutions that have been proposed to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 pandemic on people’s mental health.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore worldwide innovative solutions that have been proposed to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 pandemic on people’s mental health.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative methodology is adopted, which performs an exploratory study considering the innovative projects identified by the Observatory for Public Sector Innovation framework. Additionally, the analysis of the relevance and characteristics of these projects are explored considering a multidimensional framework composed of five dimensions: novelty level; social need; improvement of society; sector neutrality; and level of emergence.
Findings
The findings reveal that the number of projects in the field of mental health is low, despite their strong relevance to their communities. These projects arise from a strong social need to protect especially the most vulnerable groups in this pandemic and involve a large number of partners in the public sector, business and civil society. The role of volunteering in the revitalization and growth of these initiatives is also recognized.
Originality/value
This study is relevant in both the theoretical and practical dimensions. It allows the exploration of these projects considering the dimensions of social innovation and offers practical implications that allow these projects to be replicated in other countries and regions.
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This study explores the contribution that tech startups can provide in the fight against COVID-19. The Tech4Covid movement is presented to that effect, which has joined several…
Abstract
Purpose
This study explores the contribution that tech startups can provide in the fight against COVID-19. The Tech4Covid movement is presented to that effect, which has joined several Portuguese tech startups. This initiative gathers more than 5,000 volunteers and 28 ongoing projects in several interdisciplinary areas, including science, technology, health and education.
Design/methodology/approach
Two qualitative methods are adopted: the case study and the field research technique. This joint approach allows exploring in-depth the relevance and impact of the different areas included in Tech4Covid movement. Data were collected both from primary sources, namely by the authors' participation in the movement and by the use of secondary sources from each project.
Findings
The findings reveal three main areas in which the 28 ongoing projects can be categorized, respectively: support to health professionals and hospital equipment, health and education services and business and leisure. These projects offer direct and indirect contributions to the fight against COVID-19. From a perspective, they were initially designed to support health professionals in gathering protective equipment and supporting screening for suspicious cases. From another perspective, they also offer indirect benefits to citizens and the local economy.
Originality/value
This paper addresses a recent phenomenon with a dramatic impact on public health, social and economic dimensions. The study provides essentially practical contributions by revealing how Portuguese technological startups were organized and worked together to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is expected this study will serve as a reference for other countries and communities that intend to replicate this model.
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Luís Leite, Daniel Rodrigues dos Santos and Fernando Almeida
This paper aims to explore the changes imposed by the general data protection regulation (GDPR) on software engineering practices. The fundamental objective is to have a…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the changes imposed by the general data protection regulation (GDPR) on software engineering practices. The fundamental objective is to have a perception of the practices and phases that have experienced the greatest changes. Additionally, it aims to identify a set of good practices that can be adopted by software engineering companies.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a qualitative methodology through four case studies involving Portuguese software engineering companies. Two of these companies are small and medium enterprises (SMEs) while the other remaining two are micro-companies. The thematic analysis is adopted to identify patterns in the performed interviews.
Findings
The findings indicate that significant changes have occurred at all stages of software development. In particular, the initial stages of identifying requirements and modeling processes were the stages that experienced the greatest changes. On the opposite, the technical development phase has not noticeably changed but, nevertheless, it is necessary to look at the importance of training software developers for GDPR rules and practices.
Research limitations/implications
Two relevant limitations were identified as follows: only four case studies involving micro-companies and SMEs were considered, and only the traditional software development methodology was considered. The use of agile methodologies was not explored in this study and the findings can only be mainly applied to the waterfall model.
Originality/value
This study offers mainly practical contributions by identifying a set of challenges that are posed to software engineering companies by the implementation of GDPR. Through their knowledge, it is expected to help these companies to better prepare themselves and anticipate the challenges they will necessarily face.
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Fernando Almeida and Jahangir Wasim
Eco-innovation has been identified as a source of gaining a competitive advantage on a global scale. To build upon that, this study aims to deepen the understanding of…
Abstract
Purpose
Eco-innovation has been identified as a source of gaining a competitive advantage on a global scale. To build upon that, this study aims to deepen the understanding of eco-innovation in the context of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and investigates the impact of having a clear eco-innovation strategy on a company's sustainability and performance.
Design/methodology/approach
A sample of 249 SMEs located in Portugal and the UK participated and structural equation modelling (SEM) was applied to explore the relationship among the constructs.
Findings
The findings reveal that both internal and external factors influence the design of an eco-innovation strategy. However, the relevance of external factors seemed to be more significant for Portuguese SMEs. This study concludes that product/process eco-innovations and green innovation systems are determinants for sustainable performance in SMEs. In contrast, the environmental technologies and organisational eco-innovation dimensions are not determinants. This is observed both in Portuguese and UK SMEs.
Originality/value
Most studies in the field tend to explore the role of eco-innovation in large organisations. This study takes a different approach by exploring its impacts on the sustainable business performance of SMEs. Furthermore, it combines data from two countries, which constitutes a strength and gives the opportunity to explore this phenomenon empirically.
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Fernando Almeida and José Duarte Santos
This short communication aims to explore and synthesize the main effects of COVID-19 on the labor market in Portugal regarding the dimensions related to job security and…
Abstract
Purpose
This short communication aims to explore and synthesize the main effects of COVID-19 on the labor market in Portugal regarding the dimensions related to job security and unemployment.
Design/methodology/approach
Field research is used to identify and understand the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic to the labor market in Portugal. Data from the National Institute of Statistics of Portugal are analyzed and compared with artifacts published in the field, which allow us to explore the impact of this phenomenon from multiple perspectives.
Findings
The findings indicate that the impact on the labor market is very asymmetric regarding geographical regions, sectors of activity, age groups and the nature of labor ties. The most touristic regions and those with a strong dependence on the exterior are the most affected. Young people and women with unstable employment relationships and in temporary work situations are also particularly vulnerable.
Originality/value
This study focuses on an emerging area with a strong impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the labor market. This study seeks both to identify challenges in the Portuguese labor market and to discuss measures that should be taken to mitigate their effects, such as reforming the social security model, the role of teleworking or the more balanced development of the territory.
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This study explores employer perspectives regarding barriers to and responsibility for the workforce integration of skilled immigrants. Specifically, this study assesses employer…
Abstract
Purpose
This study explores employer perspectives regarding barriers to and responsibility for the workforce integration of skilled immigrants. Specifically, this study assesses employer perceptions of how influential various barriers are to the integration of self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) in the workplace, uncovers employer perceptions of SIEs competence levels, identifies employer perceptions regarding multiple stakeholders’ levels of responsibility for SIEs integration and explores impactful means to overcome these barriers.
Design/methodology/approach
Given Canada’s dependence on SIEs for labour force growth, an online survey was conducted with hiring managers of 99 firms in a mid-sized city in Ontario, Canada.
Findings
The results demonstrate that employers shift the onus of responsibility for SIEs integration to other stakeholders (namely, the immigrant or government agencies), require documentation to evaluate human capital attainment of SIEs and may be systemically discriminating against SIEs.
Research limitations/implications
The results indicate a need for documented evidence to validate foreign education and skills previously acquired by SIEs. They advance research by providing a comparative assessment of barriers from the employer’s point of view.
Practical implications
The findings support the notion that employers should strategically partner with specialized private or government agencies to help with efforts to attract and evaluate SIEs.
Originality/value
Given that employers are key decision-makers regarding employment outcomes, this study investigates the underexplored role and perspective of employers in integrating SIEs. Additionally, this study provides both a holistic and a relative assessment of the barriers to and responsibility for SIEs integration, exploring the impact of each factor on employer decision-making.
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Iris Koleša and Andreja Jaklič
The chapter outlines the main forms of diasporas' contributions to the economic development and growth along with the determinants of their scale and scope. It then focuses on the…
Abstract
The chapter outlines the main forms of diasporas' contributions to the economic development and growth along with the determinants of their scale and scope. It then focuses on the diasporas' economic potential through participation in labour markets as an international staffing option at the level of individual organizations. Both the opportunities and threats of using diaspora members in international staffing are discussed. Finally, possible directions for future research are identified.
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The notion of virtue ethics emphasises individual character as the key element of ethical thinking, which may in turn affect individual actions. There is, however, a lack of…
Abstract
The notion of virtue ethics emphasises individual character as the key element of ethical thinking, which may in turn affect individual actions. There is, however, a lack of attention to this aspect in mainstream theories and practices of motivation in organisations. To address this gap, this chapter focusses on theory of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and argues that it may be integrated with the conceptual framework of virtue ethics proposed by MacIntyre at the individual and organisational levels. A change in value-orientation may also enable a focus on good work instead of a narrow focus on monetary rewards. This chapter reviews literatures on motivation and MacIntyre’s framework, and develops a conceptual model to integrate virtue ethics with motivation. At the end, some avenues for future research are discussed.
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