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The need to enhance student support is evident in higher education (HE) curricula. In addition to the complications created by the COVID-19 pandemic, the current strategies used in academia are criticised for their lack of appropriate student support in HE. The study focused on the themes under Section 4 of the National Student Survey (NSS): availability to contact tutors, receiving good advice and guidance and availability of good advice. The study aimed to provide recommendations for enhancing academic support by developing drivers that need implementation during course delivery.

A documental analysis and a qualitative survey were adopted for this study. A documental analysis of 334 mid-module reviews (MMRs) from levels three to six students in the built environment (BE) discipline. Critical themes identified from the MMRs were fed forward in developing a questionnaire for academics. A sample of 23 academics, including a Head of school, a Principal lecturer, Subject leads and Lecturers, participated in the questionnaire survey. Content analysis is adopted through questionnaire data to develop drivers to enhance academic support in BE. These drivers are then modelled by interpretive structural modelling (ISM) to identify their correlation to NSS Section 4 themes. A level partition analysis establishes how influential they are in enhancing academic support.

The study identified nine drivers, where two drivers were categorised as fundamental, two as significant, four as important, and one insignificant in enhancing academic support in HE. Module leaders’/tutors’ improving awareness and detailing how academic support is provided were identified as fundamental. Differentiating roles in giving advice and the importance of one-to-one meetings were identified as significant. A level partitioning diagram was developed from the nine drivers to illustrate how these drivers need to be implemented to promote the best practices in academic support in HE.

The identified drivers and their categories can be used to set prioritised guidelines for academics and other educational institutions to improve students’ overall satisfaction.

Novelty from the study will be the developed drivers and the level partitioning diagram to assist academics and academic institutions in successfully integrating academic support into HE curricula.

Cybersecurity competitions can effectively develop skills, but engaging a wide learner spectrum is challenging. This study aims to investigate the perceptions of cybersecurity competitions among Reddit users. These users constitute a substantial demographic of young individuals, often participating in communities oriented towards college students or cybersecurity enthusiasts. The authors specifically focus on novice learners who showed an interest in cybersecurity but have not participated in competitions. By understanding their views and concerns, the authors aim to devise strategies to encourage their continuous involvement in cybersecurity learning. The Reddit platform provides unique access to this significant demographic, contributing to enhancing and diversifying the cybersecurity workforce.

The authors propose to mine Reddit posts for information about learners’ attitudes, interests and experiences with cybersecurity competitions. To mine Reddit posts, the authors developed a text mining approach that integrates computational text mining and qualitative content analysis techniques, and the authors discussed the advantages of the integrated approach.

The authors' text mining approach was successful in extracting the major themes from the collected posts. The authors found that motivated learners would want to form a strategic way to facilitate their learning. In addition, hope and fear collide, which exposes the learners’ interests and challenges.

The authors discussed the findings to provide education and training experts with a thorough understanding of novice learners, allowing them to engage them in the cybersecurity industry.

This paper aims to examine the health technology use in health information seeking, communication and personal health information management, as well as in the effects they may have on his relationship with the physician and on the consumption of medical resources.

An online survey was conducted. The questionnaires were distributed via online health discussion forums using Google's survey software with a summary presentation of the study’s objective. The final selection of 362 individuals was made using social media, direct email and collaboration with community groups. The empirical validation of the causal model was conducted using the partial least square approach.

The results show that the use of e-health strengthens the quality of the patient–physician relationship and patient empowerment while increasing the consumption of medical resources.

The results of this research indicate that the internet has transformed the relationship of patients to health, to their doctors and to the health-care system. In this new context, a reconsideration of the status of the patient must be considered by health service providers.

This paper investigates how gender, ethnicity, and network membership interact to influence how small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) owner-managers become aware of finance support programmes developed by government policy and/or support schemes advanced by the banking industry.

Drawing on expectation states theory (EST), we develop eight sets of hypotheses and employ the UK SME Finance Monitor data to test them using bivariate probit regression analysis.

In general, network membership increases awareness, but more so for government programmes. We also find no differences between female and male owner-managers when in networks. However, we identify in-network and out-network differences by ethnicity, with minority females seemingly better off than minority males.

Business networks are better for disseminating government programmes than industry-led programmes. For native White women, network membership can enhance policy awareness advantage further, whilst for minorities, networks significantly offset the big policy awareness deficits minorities inherently face. However, policy and practice need to address intersectional inequalities that remain in access to networks themselves, information access within networks, and the significant out-network deficits in awareness of support programmes afflicting minorities.

This study provides one of the first large-scale empirical examinations of intersectional mechanisms in awareness of government and industry-led enterprise programmes. Our novel and nuanced findings advance our understanding of the ways in which gender and ethnicity interact with network dynamics in entrepreneurship.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused severe challenges to ethnic minorities in the UK. While the experiences of migrants are both complex and varied depending on individuals' social class, race, cultural proximity to the host country and acculturation levels, more in-depth studies are necessary to fully understand how COVID-19 affects specific migrant groups and their health. Taiwanese migrants were selected because they are an understudied group. Also, there were widespread differences in pandemic management between the UK and Taiwan, making this group an ideal case for understanding how their acculturation journey can be disrupted by a crisis.

Qualitative data were collected at two different time points, at the start of the UK pandemic (March/April 2020) and six months on (October/November 2020), to explore migrant coping experiences over time. Theoretically, the authors apply acculturation theory through the lens of coping, while discussing health-consumption practices, as empirical evidence.

Before the outbreak of the pandemic, participants worked hard to achieve high levels of integration in the UK. The pandemic changed this; participants faced unexpected changes in the UK’s sociocultural structures. They were forced to exercise the layered and complex “coping with coping” in a hostile host environment that signalled their new marginalised status. They faced impossible choices, from catching a life-threatening disease to being seen as overly cautious. Such experience, over time, challenged their integration to the host country, resulting in a loss of faith in the UK’s health system, consequently increasing separation from the host culture and society.

It is important to note that the Taiwanese sample recruited through Facebook community groups is biased and has a high level of homogeneity. These participants were well-integrated, middle-class migrants who were highly educated, relatively resourceful and active on social media. More studies are needed to fully understand the impact on well-being and acculturation of migrants from different cultural, contextual and social backgrounds. This being the case, the authors can speculate that migrants with less resource are likely to have found the pandemic experience even more challenging. More studies are needed to fully understand migrant experience from different backgrounds.

Public health policymakers are advised to dedicate more resources to understand migrants' experiences in the host country. In particular, this paper has shown how separation, especially if embraced temporarily, is not necessarily a negative outcome to be corrected with specific policies. It can be strategically adopted by migrants as a way of defending their health and well-being from an increasingly hostile environment. Migrants' home country experience provides vicarious learning opportunities to acquire good practices. Their voices should be encouraged rather than in favour of a surprising orthodox and rather singular approach in the discussion of public health management.

The paper has clear public health policy implications. Firstly, public health policymakers are advised to dedicate more resources to understand migrants' experiences in the host country. Acknowledging migrants' voice is a critical first step to contribute to the development of a fair and inclusive society. Secondly, to retain skilful migrants and avoid a future brain-drain, policymakers are advised to advance existing infrastructure to provide more incentives to support and retain migrant talents in the post-pandemic recovery phase.

This paper reveals how a group of previously well-integrated migrants had to exercise “coping with coping” during the COVID crisis. This experience, over time, challenged their integration to the host country, resulting in a loss of faith in the UK’s health system, consequently increasing separation from the host culture and society. It contributes to the understanding of acculturation by showing how a such crisis can significantly disrupt migrants' acculturation journey, challenging them to re-acculturate and reconsider their identity stance. It shows how separation was indeed a good option for migrants for protecting their well-being from a newly hostile host environment.

This study aims to explore how females on committees (FOC) and committee ethnic diversity (CED) impact environmental, social and governance performance (ESGP).

This study examines 126 listed firms under the coverage of FTSE ESG Ratings in Bursa Malaysia between 2017 and 2019. This study applies partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to examine the hypotheses. While the risk of common method variance is minimised using multiple data sources for the analysis, instrumental variable-free approach, i.e. Gaussian copula method which is implemented in SmartPLS 4.0 has been used to address the potential endogeneity of the model.

Empirical evidence demonstrates significant positive direct relationships between FOC and ESGP, as well as CED and ESGP. The argument of resource dependence theory and positive empirical results on the two direct relationships hold firm despite several committees being aggregated as one construct with the aim of providing different insights into the literature.

This study provides implications for firm leadership to consider reviewing the composition of committees by increasing female representation while striking a balance in the appointment of committee members of different ethnicities to enhance firm ESGP.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study adopts a holistic approach by capturing, for the first time, the female representation of audit, nomination, remuneration and risk management committees. These dimensions are further developed into a single quantifiable variable, presented as FOC. Similarly, the ethnic diversity of the respective committees is aggregated and developed into a single quantifiable construct: the CED. Unlike most existing studies that commonly use econometric software, the application of PLS-SEM in this study contributes to the limited body of corporate governance and ESG studies that use PLS-SEM.

Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) are living up to their claims as consumers choose them more frequently. The increasing demand for sustainable vehicles translates into the global need for specific components, materials, and infrastructures and drives the regulatory frameworks in each country. While BEVs offer environmental benefits and global business opportunities, the technology has not yet gained mainstream acceptance. Thus, this work aims to investigate the characteristics of BEV users and their role in the diffusion of products to larger segments, as this may vary from country to country. For this purpose, a survey based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT-2) (Venkatesh et al., 2012) framework and structural equation modeling (SmartPLS) was adopted. The results indicated that, except for the constructs of effort expectancy (EE) and social influence (SI), the predictors in the model performed well in this context. Current users are satisfied with their vehicles and are supportive of BEVs in the future. The analysis also revealed that in addition to the availability of financial resources, early adopters are attracted by new technologies in a way that leads them to make decisions outside of the traditional influence of the other members of society. It is suggested to leverage the perceived benefits of status, differentiation, or uniqueness motives, to appeal to those seeking to appear trendy and tech-savvy in society. Companies and policymakers should acknowledge the peculiarities of early customers in their communication strategies to reach a wider audience around the globe and encourage the adoption of BEV technology.

Introduction: This study investigates the COVID-19 pandemic’s effects on the sustainability of the supply chain. It investigates how modern supply networks and procedures were equipped for such a catastrophe, and the pandemic’s effects on the environment, highlighting the significance of studying resilience and sustainability concurrently.

Purpose: The study acknowledges the importance of environmental sustainability for businesses and the need to examine trends in organisational, customer, policy, and distribution networks.

Need for the Study: The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted supply chains. This study aims to provide insight into the long-term repercussions of the crisis and the importance of incorporating environmental considerations.

Methodology: The study uses a mixed-methods approach to evaluate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on supply networks and environmental sustainability indices. Data from industry reports, governmental publications, polls, and qualitative research techniques have been gathered.

Findings: The results of this study advance our understanding of how to preserve supply chains in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. It highlights the need for enhanced resilience and sustainability measures, expose the flaws and weaknesses of contemporary supply networks, and uncover developing patterns and tactics in customer behaviour, policy frameworks, distribution networks, and supply chain management.

Practical Implications: The COVID-19 pandemic has provided businesses, decision makers, and researchers with guidance on handling its potential and challenges – increasing the supply chain’s resistance to future interruptions, incorporating environmentally friendly practises, developing policies to support resilient and sustainable supply chains, adapting to changing consumer tastes, increasing effectiveness, and minimising the environmental impact of distribution networks.

The Internet has encouraged rural tourism experience providers to develop a new management strategy that opts for disintermediation to access the market. In this context, incoming travel agencies (destination management companies [DMCs]), despite the local component, lose capacity to promote the rural tourism. The main question is what kind of relationship between stakeholders would enhance effective intermediation processes between them. The paper examines such constraints and limitations of existing relationships between small local rural tourism producers and DMCs.

Using the Basque Country region of northern Spain as a case study, the authors used a mixed qualitative and quantitative methodology based on semi-structured in-depth interviews and an online survey. The data analysis strategy used incorporated descriptive and exploratory factor analysis (EFA).

In this research, most of the tourism disintermediation factors identified in previous literature were reinforced when tested in the rural context. The results confirm that power, value, product differentiation, digitisation and stakeholder collaboration are key elements. The value provided in the international segment by DMCs, though, was found to be irrelevant.

This article contributes to filling a gap in the literature on rural tourism destination management from a holistic view of the destination understanding the business-to-business (B2B) relationship among stakeholders in rural tourism. This paper focuses on those elements that create value for local producers to sell the products through intermediaries and provides a framework for understanding the factors involved in value creation in rural tourism intermediation, which is applicable to further empirical studies and provides interesting managerial implications.

The purpose of this paper is to ascertain if practising healthy lifestyles improves the technical efficiency of farms in Kwara state, Nigeria. In theory, all deviations from the optimum level of output are due to random effects and inefficiency of producers in which their health plays a key part and is dependent on the kind of lifestyle practiced whether healthy or unhealthy.

Cross-sectional data were employed through a three-staged sampling technique to pick 320 arable crop farmers across the state using a well-defined questionnaire. Data analysis was carried out using descriptive statistics, healthy lifestyles index (HLI), stochastic production frontier (SPF) and propensity score matching (PSM).

First, the analysis showed that about one-third of the sampled arable crop farmers practised healthy lifestyles. Second, the average technical efficiency of arable crop production for farmers who practised a healthy lifestyle was 0.893, and the level of technical inefficiency of the farms was determined by health-related lifestyle status, number of day's illness and educational level. Third, technical efficiency was improved by 0.00431067 for farms whose farmers practised a healthy lifestyle.

Rather than seeing that technical efficiencies of farms are attributed to farm characteristics, inputs used and socioeconomic characteristics alone, the findings suggest that technical inefficiencies of arable crop farmers were also due to the kind of lifestyle practised, which was evidenced in the increased efficiency for farmers who practised healthy lifestyle.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-05-2023-0353