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1 – 10 of 51Rong Huang, Guang Yang, Xiaoye Chen and Yuxin Chen
This study aims to investigate the influence of CEO’s only-child status on corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices. It seeks to extend the understanding of upper echelon…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the influence of CEO’s only-child status on corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices. It seeks to extend the understanding of upper echelon theory by examining unexplored CEO characteristics and their impact on CSR decisions.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses manually collected CEO family information and Chinese Stock and Market Accounting Research data as a basis to examine the influence of CEOs’ early-life experiences on their engagement in CSR activities. The study applies attachment security theory from developmental psychology and uses upper echelon theory, particularly focusing on CEOs’ only-child status. A comparative analysis of philanthropic donations between CEOs who are only children and those who have siblings is conducted. The study also examines the moderating effects of corporate slack resources and CEO shareholdings.
Findings
Preliminary findings suggest that CEOs who are only children are more likely to engage in CSR compared to their counterparts with siblings. However, the difference in donation amounts between the two groups tends to attenuate with decreased slack resources and increased CEO shareholdings.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research represents the first attempt to investigate being the only child in one’s family and the CSR-related decision of CEOs, which extends the upper echelon theory by introducing the family science theory into the management domain.
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Melanie Moen, Hai Thi Thanh Pham, Mohd Ali Samsudin and Tiew Chia Chun
The aim of this study was to measure the level of challenges faced by novice teachers in South Africa. Findings suggest a need for professional development courses to upskill…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study was to measure the level of challenges faced by novice teachers in South Africa. Findings suggest a need for professional development courses to upskill teachers with effective pedagogies that can incorporate the social and emotional components into teaching and learning.
Design/methodology/approach
This study applied a descriptive research methodology by administering a questionnaire to 143 novice teachers. The data analysis technique was the Rasch model.
Findings
The findings indicated high item and person reliability, with a good item fit and polarity values that are compatible with the Rasch model. The three major challenges identified are uninvolved parents, discipline problems and a lack of guidance and counselling. These challenges can be related to social and emotional learning (SEL) components.
Research limitations/implications
The study used quantitative methods and discovered the challenges that novice teachers face. If the research uses a combination of qualitative methods, it will be possible to better identify the specific causes of the above three challenges of novice teachers.
Practical implications
Due to the complex nature of South African society, many novice teachers are overwhelmed by the challenges they face when entering the profession. These challenges are often embedded in societal risk factors, which complicate the transition from student teacher to novice teacher. The major challenges identified in this study can be related to SEL components, as the challenges are closely linked to the psychological and social backgrounds of the students. Teachers in this study indicated that they found it difficult to deal with these challenges at the beginning of their careers.
Social implications
By identifying the challenges facing new teachers in South Africa, they will be better prepared for their work in schools. Therefore, they will improve the above situation to continue developing professionally.
Originality/value
The findings indicated high item and person reliability, with a good item fit and polarity values that are compatible with the Rasch model. Teachers in this study indicated that they found it difficult to deal with these challenges in the beginning of their careers. Professional development courses are suggested to help teachers deal with issues such as discipline, uninvolved parents and guidance and counselling effectively. Higher education programmes should also include these topics in their curricula for student teachers. A greater emphasis on training teachers in their pastoral roles is suggested.
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Debbie Reardon, Magda M. Apanasionok and Corinna Grindle
There is a sparsity of research that considers how to overcome implementation challenges for interventions in special school settings where specialist teaching methods are…
Abstract
Purpose
There is a sparsity of research that considers how to overcome implementation challenges for interventions in special school settings where specialist teaching methods are involved. Successful implementation has often relied on considerable researcher involvement, making them inaccessible and not sustainable for the majority of special schools. The purpose of this study was to implementa train-the-trainer approach to train teaching staff to use the Teaching Early Numeracy to Children with Developmental Disabilities (TEN-DD) programme in a large special school in the UK, thereby significantly reducing researcher involvement in its implementation.
Design/methodology/approach
One staff member was trained to become the school lead for TEN-DD and trained other teaching staff in the school on implementation. This study recruited 13 students aged between 12 and 16 years of age with developmental disabilities to receive TEN-DD. Pre- and post-intervention tests on a standardised numeracy measure were conducted.
Findings
A train-the-trainer model was developed and successfully delivered to train teaching staff in TEN-DD. A standardised outcome measure indicated that ten students made improvements to their numeracy skills after teachers trained using this approach delivered TEN-DD for between 3 and 10 months.
Originality/value
Very little research has been carried out to better understand methods for overcoming implementation challenges for delivering evidence-based teaching programmes at scale to students with developmental disabilities who attend special schools. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study reports the results of the first evaluation of using a train-the-trainer model for the delivery of a numeracy intervention (TEN-DD), whereby there was no involvement of researchers in implementation beyond the initial training of the school lead. This model of training for interventions may be more sustainable for special schools and help improve the uptake of evidence-based interventions.
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Hardo Firmana Given Grace Manik, Rossalina Christanti and Wahyu Setiawan
This study aims to examine the dynamics of traditional wayang kulit or shadow puppet knowledge management in a community-based enterprise (CBE) known as “Wisata Wayang” in…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the dynamics of traditional wayang kulit or shadow puppet knowledge management in a community-based enterprise (CBE) known as “Wisata Wayang” in Wukirsari Village, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative case study was adopted, which allows the author to explore the dynamics or uniqueness of an event or cultural phenomenon more deeply.
Findings
The shadow puppet is an artefact of Javanese culture with rich life philosophy and wisdom. It guides people the pursuit of harmony with themselves, others, the universe and God. The success of knowledge management of the shadow puppet at CBE was supported by the high entrepreneurial orientation of the administrators. This study showed that entrepreneurial orientation should be extended into sociopreneurial with additional aspects, including preservation mission and communality, promoting the emergence of grassroots innovations. The knowledge of shadow puppet craft in this village is passed through nyantrik, also known as apprenticeship.
Originality/value
No previous research has explored the dynamics of traditional knowledge management in the context of CBE in Indonesia. As Indonesia has rich traditional knowledge from hundreds of tribes and prominent communal cultures, this study of community-based knowledge management contributes new insights in the knowledge management literature.
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M. Alex Praveen Raj, D. Nelson and M. Anand Shankar Raja
Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic has been a good example of a Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity (VUCA) world. Higher educational institutions (HEIs) have faced a…
Abstract
Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic has been a good example of a Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity (VUCA) world. Higher educational institutions (HEIs) have faced a massive hit because the jobs in this industry have become unexpected. Considering the most valuable assets ‘Teachers’ crunched in the VUCA crisis, the study intends to determine if personal harmony (PH) and organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) would enhance teachers’ job satisfaction (JS).
Design/methodology/approach: Data are collected from the teachers of Indian HEIs and teachers who have experienced the impact of the COVID-19 catastrophe (VUCA). Considering the pandemic restrictions, data have been collected through an online survey (N = 364).
Practical Implications: PH is an individual’s internal quality and attribute that cannot be developed on force or situational need. Even in an uncertain situation, teachers have tried their best to contribute through professional service. Hence, people who possess PH contribute their best even though unsatisfied with their jobs.
Originality/value: This study has focused on finding the relationship between two different variables, PH and OCB (which has not been explored in Asian countries, majorly in India, where it has a vast cultural diversity and structure influencing the educational policies) that hinders the factors influencing JS, where these two variables are highly influenced by hygiene factors such as values, culture, ethical standards, personal belief, leadership styles, and fair treatment showcased by the organisations/institutions.
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Dorothy Ai-wan Yen, Benedetta Cappellini, Jane Denise Hendy and Ming-Yao Jen
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…
Abstract
Purpose
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.
Design/methodology/approach
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.
Findings
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.
Research limitations/implications
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.
Practical implications
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.
Social implications
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.
Originality/value
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.
Cinzia Calluso and Maria Giovanna Devetag
The COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to making workers more uncompromising with respect to issues such as quality of workplace relations and work-life balance. Hence, motivation…
Abstract
Purpose
The COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to making workers more uncompromising with respect to issues such as quality of workplace relations and work-life balance. Hence, motivation and leadership style assume a key relevance for keeping the workforce engaged. We hypothesize that individuals may exhibit different preferences for motivational drivers and for leadership style, and that these two sets of preferences might be correlated with each other and with employees’ personality traits.
Design/methodology/approach
Here, we empirically investigate the relationship between leadership style and motivation, by also hypothesizing the possible contribution of personality traits. An online survey was developed and distributed to 150 employees or interns/trainees to collect measures related to their preference for leadership, their motivational drivers, as well as their personality traits. The data were analyzed by means of mediation and moderation analyses to disentangle the three-level relationship existing between these constructs.
Findings
Our results suggest that indeed there exists a relationship between preferences for leadership style and motivational drivers. Furthermore, one of these relationships appears to be critically mediated by specific personality traits.
Originality/value
This work is the first, to our knowledge, empirically testing the existence of a three-level relationship between leadership preferences, motivation and personality traits of employees and to contribute to disentangle their reciprocal influences.
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Feng Zhang, Youliang Wei and Tao Feng
GraphQL is a new Open API specification that allows clients to send queries and obtain data flexibly according to their needs. However, a high-complexity GraphQL query may lead to…
Abstract
Purpose
GraphQL is a new Open API specification that allows clients to send queries and obtain data flexibly according to their needs. However, a high-complexity GraphQL query may lead to an excessive data volume of the query result, which causes problems such as resource overload of the API server. Therefore, this paper aims to address this issue by predicting the response data volume of a GraphQL query statement.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper proposes a GraphQL response data volume prediction approach based on Code2Vec and AutoML. First, a GraphQL query statement is transformed into a path collection of an abstract syntax tree based on the idea of Code2Vec, and then the query is aggregated into a vector with the fixed length. Finally, the response result data volume is predicted by a fully connected neural network. To further improve the prediction accuracy, the prediction results of embedded features are combined with the field features and summary features of the query statement to predict the final response data volume by the AutoML model.
Findings
Experiments on two public GraphQL API data sets, GitHub and Yelp, show that the accuracy of the proposed approach is 15.85% and 50.31% higher than existing GraphQL response volume prediction approaches based on machine learning techniques, respectively.
Originality/value
This paper proposes an approach that combines Code2Vec and AutoML for GraphQL query response data volume prediction with higher accuracy.
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Ross Gardner, Robert J. Blomme, Ad Kil and Nick van Dam
Transference-based trust (TBT) via referral sources is a cognitive process where trust in third-party information about an individual transfers to trust in the individual. TBT via…
Abstract
Purpose
Transference-based trust (TBT) via referral sources is a cognitive process where trust in third-party information about an individual transfers to trust in the individual. TBT via referral sources can have significant effects on early trust development in a virtual team (VT). This study aims to examine the potential influence of Hofstede’s (1980) cultural variables and two proposed combinations of these cultural variables on early trust development in VT, including the effects of referral source.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopted multigroup analysis partial least squares structural modeling to examine potential cultural differences in the responses of 357 university students from 51 different countries to understand early trust development in VT.
Findings
TBT via referral sources as in interpersonal construct has a positive, direct impact on early trust development. TBT mediated the individual and organizational model constructs. There were significant differences in the high/low values of 3 of the 56 tested cultural dimensions.
Research limitations/implications
Reaffirmed the validity of cognitive-based trust models in understanding early trust development in VTs TBT as an interpersonal construct and has a significant influence on early trust development in VTs. TBT via referral sources mediated the individual and organizational constructs of the model. There were significant differences in the high/low measures of three cultural dimensions (i.e. IV, M and the combination of IV-M-LT) in the relationship of early trusting beliefs to early trusting intensions.
Practical implications
To positively influence interpersonal and organizational aspects of trust development, managers should ensure that the early phases of VTs, before actual implementation begins, are well organized. Managers could make VT members fully aware of how referral sources can influence early trust development. Managers could encourage individuals to have open access to relevant social media accounts for other VT members and encourage individuals to research referral sources on other VTs members. The implication for managers of culturally diverse VT is that the development of early trust is largely by individual choice, rather than differences in national culture.
Social implications
People need to maintain and actively manage their online presence, ensuring that online information about them is accurate and updated. Referral sources could help VT members learn about one another, which might in turn help foster early trust in their online teams.
Originality/value
Although some studies have found significant cultural differences in early trust development, other studies, including a meta-analysis of 43 studies, found no significant cultural differences in early trust development. This study confirmed the results of the meta-analysis.
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