Search results

The scientific community shares a heritage of knowledge generated by several different fields of research. Identifying how scientific interest evolves is relevant for recording and understanding research trends and society’s demands.

This article presents SciBR-M, a novel method to identify scientific interest evolution from bibliographic material based on Formal Concept Analysis. The SciBR-M aims to describe the thematic evolution surrounding a field of research. The method begins by hierarchically organising sub-domains within the field of study to identify the themes that are more relevant. After this organisation, we apply a temporal analysis that extracts implication rules with minimal premises and a single conclusion, which are helpful to observe the evolution of scientific interest in a specific field of study. To analyse the results, we consider support, confidence, and lift metrics to evaluate the extracted implications.

The authors applied the SciBR-M method for the Educational Data Mining (EDM) field considering 23 years since the first publications. In the digital libraries context, SciBR-M allows the integration of the academy, education, and cultural memory, in relation to a study domain.

Cultural changes lead to the production of new knowledge and to the evolution of scientific interest. This knowledge is part of the scientific heritage of society and should be transmitted in a structured and organised form to future generations of scientists and the general public.

The method, based on Formal Concept Analysis, identifies the evolution of scientific interest to a field of study. SciBR-M hierarchically organises bibliographic material to different time periods and explores this hierarchy from proper implication rules. These rules permit identifying recurring themes, i.e. themes subset that received more attention from the scientific community during a specific period. Analysing these rules, it is possible to identify the temporal evolution of scientific interest in the field of study. This evolution is observed by the emergence, increase or decrease of interest in topics in the domain. The SciBR-M method can be used to register and analyse the scientific, cultural heritage of a field of study. In addition, the authors can use the method to stimulate the process of creating knowledge and innovation and encouraging the emergence of new research.

Average bank net interest margins vary widely across Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, net interest margins of Omani banks are significantly higher. The resultant low level of financial intermediation implies reduced investment and economic growth. Understanding the reason for these high and persistent spreads is important to develop a policy for improving effectiveness of the banking system. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Net interest margins of Arab GCC banks during the period 1999-2012 are examined using the balanced panel regression model with bank specific, financial/market structure specific and macroeconomic factors as determinants. The method used for estimation used is the estimated generalized least squares (EGLS) method with both fixed effects and random effects.

Bank-specific variables, which explain net interest margins in GCC, are bank capitalization ratios, loan ratios and overhead expenses. Spread of banking sector (as measured by ratio of total bank credit to GDP) is positive and highly significant, implying that along with the expansion of the banking sector in GCC economies, interest margins of banks also improved. Omani banks were able to increase interest margins by aggressively marketing high yield personal and credit card loans, and, zero interest paying deposit products. The study also finds a negative relationship between concentration and net interest margin, and attempts to explain this finding which is at variance with other country studies using the price leadership model of oligopoly.

The standard, accepted econometric model of net interest margins which has been used in earlier studies is unable to explain the high net interest margins of banks in Oman although it is able to explain interest margins in other GCC countries. There is a need to develop non econometric models. More work is needed on the implications of NIM spreads for how they affect an economy.

The study shows that as the banking sector spreads in the economy, individual banks have more opportunities to market their products while at the same time maintaining interest margins. Bank managements should note this point and look for opportunities to expand.

There is no evidence of any empirical studies which focused on net interest margins in the GCC countries. This study attempts to fill in this gap with a view to nudge policy makers to look at the issue of high interest margins and its detrimental impact on economic growth and development in the Gulf region. The paper is useful for policy makers to understand and rectify the problem of excessive interest spreads which is hurting the financial intermediation process.

In this study, the authors develop knowledge and insights on how the perception of interestingness influences the structure and focus of conversations in entrepreneurial education (EE) research. In particular, the authors elaborate on what is perceived as interesting among different subgroups of EE researchers, and not least, how EE researchers can identify and engage in scholarly conversation within the field.

The study is based on a unique database with web-based responses from 465 EE researchers from around the world. The authors conduct analyses of both open-ended and closed questions. The open-ended questions are analyzed by inductive categorization. The closed questions are subject to factor and cluster analyses.

The findings suggest that EE research is a topic-oriented field, characterized by a strong focus on novel and challenging research issues. In addition, the field is individualistic and fragmented, and the perception of interestingness differs between five subgroups of EE researchers, whose members have a somewhat different perception of interestingness. Accordingly, the authors also find different core conversations going on within the field. Obviously, these conversations tend to be triggered by the field's obsession with novelty and challenging research, but several conversations are related to practically relevant research, as well as methodological and theoretical discussions.

This is the first study to elaborate on the perception of interestingness among EE researchers and the conversations going on within the field. In the study the authors have explored the characteristics of EE research based on the perception of interestingness among the researchers within the field. In this respect, this study contributes insights on how current and aspiring EE researchers can find and build scholarly conversations embedded in passionate interest, while concurrently disseminating and accumulating knowledge on EE together with like-minded peers.

This study aims to advance the understanding on individual variations in PhD candidates’ personal interest in their doctorate and supervisory and research community support, and several individual and structural attributes potentially having an impact on the profiles.

The authors explored the interrelationship between personal interest – social support profiles, and nationality, gender, research group and study status and the risk of dropping out. A total of 768 PhD candidates from a research-intensive university in Finland responded to a modified version of the cross-cultural doctoral experience survey. Latent profile analysis was used to explore the individual variations in PhD candidates’ interest and support from the supervisor and research community.

Three distinctive PhD interest-social support profiles were detected; the high interest–high support profile (74.4%, n = 570), the high interest–moderate support profile (18.2%, n = 140) and the moderate interest–moderate support profile (7.4%, n = 56). The profiles exhibited high to moderate levels of research, development and instrumental interest. Individuals in the high interest–moderate support and in the moderate interest–moderate support profiles were more prone to consider dropping out from their PhD than in the high interest–high support profile.

The results indicate that by cultivating PhD candidates’ interest and providing sufficient supervisory and the research community offers a means for preventing candidates from discontinuing their doctorate. Hence, building a supportive learning environment that cultivates a PhD candidate’s personal interest is likely to reduce high dropout rates among the candidates.

The study explored the impact of the King and Queen of Mathematics Initiative (KQMI) in promoting students’ interest in learning mathematics and improving their achievement. The specific objectives of the study focused on the impact of the initiative in promoting interest in mathematics, assessing the contribution of the initiative to students’ achievements and investigating challenges encountered by the initiative.

The study used a case study design with a mixed-method approach. One ward secondary school was involved. The sample size was N = 79, where 77 were grade three students in a science class and two teachers. Data collection involved documentary review, observation and interviews. Data analysis employed both content analysis and a dependent t-test to determine the effect size of the initiative.

The findings revealed that KQMI had a significant impact on improving performance in mathematics among students (t (71) = −7.917, p < 0.05). The study also showed that male students improved their performance more than their counterparts throughout the KQMI. The mathematics teacher revealed that students still need assistance to solve mathematical questions with different techniques to develop the expected competencies.

The initiative was conducted only in one school, limiting the findings’ generalization. Also, the innovation faced different challenges, such as accessing adequate resources and students with little knowledge of mathematics, which the initiative aimed to address.

Pedagogical innovations enhance the promotion of students’ interest in learning mathematics and hence improve their performance. Also, through pedagogical innovations, teachers improve their teaching skills and practices from students’ feedback.

The KQMI is a new pedagogical innovation modified from the existing innovations such as game-based method, task design, mobile learning and mathematics island.

This study proposed a research model for verifying the structural relationships among users' perceived spatial presence (VR affordance), situational interest (affective factor) and behavioral attitudes (outcome) toward online virtual museum navigation. What role of situational interest plays in the relationships between spatial presence and outcomes was further examined.

There were 141 adults invited to participate in the research trials on the navigation of the online virtual museum which was established by 3D space capture techniques. This study conducted a series of PLS-SEM to analyze the participants' quantitative responses to the surveys of spatial presence, situational interest and attitudes.

The testing of reliability and validity for the measurement model of this study was satisfied. The significance of users' perceived situational interest: attention demand, instant enjoyment and exploration intention when navigating the online virtual museum with perceptions of spatial presence were identified. The mediation of situational interest in the relationships between spatial presence and behavioral attitudes were also verified.

For the practical design of desktop-based online virtual museums, it is suggested that more engaging strategies such as narrative storytelling and gamified interaction could be integrated to enhance users' situational interest including attention demand, instant enjoyment and exploration intention.

Through the examination of situational interest from multiple constructs, the research model of this study advanced the conceptual framework for understanding the consequences of VR affordance in online virtual museum navigation. The theoretical contribution to verifying the mediated role of situational interest was made.

This paper aims to examine the relationships between undergraduate management students’ emotional interest (EI) and cognitive interest (CI) in research methods (RMs), the perceived applicability of RMs to future careers and motivation to study RMs within the Asian higher education context. This draws implications for better pedagogical approaches to motivating them to study RMs.

A pre–post-semester cohort study design was conducted with 172 undergraduate management students enrolled on an RMs subject by means of a self-administrated online survey using Qualtrics. A total of 170 students responded to the pre-semester survey and 116 students to the post-semester one. The main instrument was adapted from Mazer’s (2012) study interest scale. Regression analysis was applied to investigating the relationship between students’ EI and CI in RMs with perceived applicability of RMs to future careers and their motivation to study RMs.

The findings have shown that there was a significant relationship between undergraduate management students’ CI and EI and perceived applicability of RMs to future careers and their study motivation towards RMs. The regression model built on the two independent variables of students’ EI in RMs and their perceived applicability of RMs to future careers served to have higher accuracy in predicting their study motivation.

This paper contributes to enriching the conceptual understanding of the conflating influences of undergraduate management students’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivation levels on studying RMs within the Asian higher education context. Practically, this study explores different pedagogical approaches to better motivating students to study RMs.

The research sought to assess perceived barriers to enrolment in parenting programmes by different ethnic groups in a deprived inner‐city community. In study one, parents of children attending pre‐school services targeted with outreach strategies were assessed using a Barriers Checklist to identify factors influencing uptake. In study two, a larger sample completed the checklist and SDQ (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) to test associations between intention and parent‐rated behavioural difficulties. Study one found no significant differences in individual perceived barriers or levels of behavioural difficulty between ethnic groups. In study two, Pakistani, Asian British and African families showed the highest levels of interest in attending groups, and White British and Black British the lowest. There was no significant correlation between interest and behavioural difficulties. Higher parent education was associated with interest. The research shows that barriers to attendance are diverse, and finding further ways of enhancing the uptake of community‐based group programmes across different ethnic groups would be valuable.

The purpose of this study is to synthesize the published works about tourism in the island. Island destinations, especially smaller ones, suffer the negative effects of tourism more than other destinations. This is because of the characteristics of island destinations and the negative impacts arising from their inadequate management by different stakeholders. For these reasons, and conversely because tourism favors the social and economic development of islands, there has been a great deal of research published on insular tourism in the literature at a global level. Despite the number of studies carried out from different approaches, none have synthesized this scientific production. Thus, the main contribution of this paper is the use of a bibliometric and descriptive approach to carry out a thorough review of studies published on tourist development in island destinations.

The authors use a bibliometric and descriptive approach to carry out a comprehensive review of the published studies on tourism development in island destinations in the past decade with special emphasis on the items analyzed, places of analysis and scientific journals that have addressed this topic.

The results of the analysis of the literature show the interest of the study of tourism in island destinations. This interest is partly due to the attraction that tourists have for this type of destinations and the need to promote their sustainable management as tourism destinations (Cusick, 2009, Hall, 2011, Cave and Brown, 2012, López, Orgaz, Marmolejo and Alector, 2016). In addition, tourism in island destinations constitutes an opportunity for economic development and benefits both the local population and its visitors (Fabinyi, 2010; Porter et al., 2015).

The main limitation of this paper is the great diversity of tourist destinations made up of islands, the complex nature of these destinations and tourism and the quantity and diversity of research carried out into them. This aspect has already been highlighted by other authors and makes it complex to determine which research should be included or excluded in this review.

Importantly, the results allow researchers and decision-makers to identify the main areas of interest in the study of island tourism and the reasons for this interest. They also indicate new areas of interest and in-depth studies. Thus, professionals have a map that shows the most relevant factors in tourism development for this type of destination and the variables that, both from a positive and a negative point of view, influence its development.

This research shows that the main areas of interest is island destination are the quality of life of the local community, stakeholder collaboration, sustainability, diversification and seasonality, marketing, consumer behavior/perception and segmentation, planning of tourism activity, information and technology, competitiveness and efficiency.

As evidenced by the amount of research carried out, there is a great deal of interest in tourism in island destinations. This interest arises from the specific characteristics and the interest of tourists themselves in this type of destination, as well as from the negative impacts and opportunities generated by island tourism. Nevertheless, the number of references obtained for tourism in island destinations (N = 949) represents only 0.2 per cent of the total number of studies referring to only “island” in the SCOPUS consultation (339,607 studies). Thus, one of the contributions of this paper has been to highlight the need to continue studying and reviewing in greater depth research on insular tourism.

Despite the common understanding of what interestingness is, few people can explain what makes something interesting. The purpose of this paper is to explore the theoretical foundation of interestingness and test if it has merit in the branding context. It aims to help practitioners understand how to make a brand interesting and what outcomes to expect from it.

Three preliminary studies (Studies 1, 2 and 3) provide proof of concept. Study 4 tests the antecedences and outcomes of brand interestingness (BI) across 66 brands by accounting for individual and brand variations. Study 5 examines the moderating effects of brand use and brand familiarity on BI and its outcomes.

A broad literature review reveals that interestingness is an emotion and is, therefore, an affective state. The findings from two exploratory studies show that customers naturally associate interestingness with specific brands and interesting brands are associated with novelty. Study 3 demonstrates that from all affective states arising from the evaluation of a brand (i.e. easiness, pleasantness, interestingness, challenge and difficulty), BI has the highest effect on purchase intention (PI). Study 4 demonstrates that the antecedents of BI are the novelty associated with the symbolic and functional aspects of a brand, and also the ability to cope with those novelty components. Two positive outcomes of BI are PI and word of mouth (WOM). Study 5 demonstrates that brand familiarity and brand use moderate the effect of BI on purchase intent and WOM. The research concludes with an operational definition of the BI concept and future research suggestions.

The research introduces the interesting concept in the brand context. Based on a broad literature review and several studies, it identifies the antecedents and outcomes of BI. It helps practitioners understand how they can increase the interestingness of brands and what outcomes to expect.