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1 – 10 of over 1000Behnam Soltani and William E. Donald
Drawing on a theoretical framework of sustainable career ecosystem theory, our paper aims to consider how domestic and international postgraduates can enhance their employability…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on a theoretical framework of sustainable career ecosystem theory, our paper aims to consider how domestic and international postgraduates can enhance their employability through participation in a landscape of practice.
Design/methodology/approach
The study employed an exploratory, longitudinal case study design to capture students' lived experiences on an 18-month Master of Professional Practice course at a higher education institution in New Zealand. The data collection procedure involved field note observations (months 1–4), a focus group (month 13) and narrative frames (months 16–18). The sample was domestic students from New Zealand (n = 2) and international students from Asia (n = 5).
Findings
One’s participation in multiple communities of practice represents their landscape of practice and a commitment to lifewide learning. Through participation in various communities of practice, domestic and international students can enhance their employability in three ways: (1) boundary encounters to develop social capital, (2) transcending contexts to enhance cultural capital, and (3) acknowledging the development of psychological capital and career agency.
Originality/value
Our work offers one of the earliest empirical validations of sustainable career ecosystem theory. Expressly, communities of practice represent various contexts whereby employability capital is developed over time. Additionally, the postgraduate students themselves are portrayed as interconnected and interdependent actors, presenting a novel framing of such dependencies at the micro-level of the ecosystem. The practical implications come from informing universities of the value of a landscape of practice to enhance the employability of domestic and international students in preparation for sustainable careers and to promote the sustainability of the career ecosystem.
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Ilkay Yorganci and Mahtab Sadrimovahed
The aim of this study is to understand the acculturation experiences of international students in order to maximize their academic and social experiences which, in turn, can…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study is to understand the acculturation experiences of international students in order to maximize their academic and social experiences which, in turn, can facilitate the development of sustainable educational tourism in the host country.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a qualitative methodology and semi-structured interview techniques, 40 international postgraduate tourism students from the Global South were interviewed.
Findings
The findings in this study demonstrated that the main problems faced by these students are inadequate funds and language difficulties.
Originality/value
This study highlighted the fact that although the number of international students is growing all over the world, for most of the students from poorer parts of the world, being an international student is fraught with difficulties. It also demonstrated that although acculturation stress is a serious concern, lack of adequate funding assumes greater importance for students from a poor background.
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Abbas Doulani and Masoumeh Hossaini
This study aims to investigate the factors affecting the motivation of graduate students of information science in scientific and research activities and science production. This…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the factors affecting the motivation of graduate students of information science in scientific and research activities and science production. This research is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive in terms of type and method.
Design/methodology/approach
The study's statistical population includes all postgraduate information science students studying in public universities. The random sampling method was simple. The data collection tool was a questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and one-sample t-test, independent t-test, and ANOVA were used to analyze the collected data by SPSS software.
Findings
Findings showed that all the main variables (internal motivations, external motivations, self-empowerment, and intellectual and specialized interactions) affect the participation of postgraduate students in research and scientific activities. Among the identified components, the creation of opportunities, research facilities, innovation, and formal relations between students and professors, has the most significant impact on students' motivation to participate in scientific and research activities and science production. There was no significant difference between education and age. From the results obtained from the present study, it can be said that the above variables, which were divided into four categories, with the intensity of the participation of graduate students of universities that in the present study examined the field of librarianship and information, with power and Or weakness are influential. This means that the students at the beginning of the research path, in other words, will be future researchers, should be constantly monitored as a source in the production of science.
Originality/value
This research is one of the few types of research that examines the influential variables in increasing the motivation to participate in the study, considering the population of postgraduate students of universities and scientific institutions as drivers of science production.
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Sana Khan, Muhammad Asif Naveed and Mumtaz Ali Anwar
This paper aims to investigate the relationship of information-seeking anxiety (ISA) with socio-academic variables of business students in the digital environment.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the relationship of information-seeking anxiety (ISA) with socio-academic variables of business students in the digital environment.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional survey using a questionnaire was conducted. The questionnaire, composed of 47 items of Information Seeking Anxiety Scale along with certain socio-academic variables, was administered personally among business students by visiting their classrooms at the Lahore School of Economics, Pakistan. The received 283 responses were analyzed by applying descriptive and inferential statistics such as mean, standard deviation, t-test and one-way analysis of variance.
Findings
The results revealed that a large majority of business students were less comfortable in information seeking and experienced anxiety from mild to moderate levels. There were only a few respondents who faced either low or severe levels of ISA. In relationship testing, the students’ socio-academic variables such as program type, gender, school background, geographical background, information communication technology skills and English language competence did not appear to be the predictors of their ISA.
Research limitations/implications
The results of this study should carefully be used while making generalizations for all the business students in Pakistan and abroad as this research collected data from the business students of a single university in Pakistan.
Practical implications
These results have greater implications for the future directions of information literacy as creating awareness and building capacity for skills about the information search process will help in reducing ISA. These findings provided a pragmatic insight that can be used as a guide by information professionals, especially those engaged in information services, to develop a need-based curriculum of information literacy which would ultimately help in the alleviation of anxiety and combating its effects on students’ academic performance.
Originality/value
This study address specifically ISA of business students that would make a worthy contribution to the existing research on ISA as, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no such study has appeared so far.
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Zahra Khozaei Ravari, Qamar Ul Islam, Fatemeh Khozaei and Sara Betlem Choupan Zarvijani
Developing graduate students' academic writing has been a major concern for many scholars over the past few years. Existing literature on the challenges of thesis writing has not…
Abstract
Purpose
Developing graduate students' academic writing has been a major concern for many scholars over the past few years. Existing literature on the challenges of thesis writing has not focused on master's students in English language teaching (ELT). Data on the challenges have been mainly gathered from the theses and focused on the structure and genre requirements. Few available studies have investigated such challenges through the lens of supervisors in an international context. Knowledge about the factors hindering the thesis writing process of non-native MA students in English from the supervisors' perspectives is scarce. This study attempts to fill these gaps by answering this question: From supervisors' perspectives, what factors hinder the thesis writing process of non-native MA students?
Design/methodology/approach
Thirty supervisors from state and private universities across Iran voluntarily participated in this qualitative study. Drawing upon teachers' diaries and semi-structured interviews, the authors identified major factors negatively influencing the thesis work of master's students. Data were transferred into NVivo 10 and analyzed thematically following Colaizzi's method.
Findings
The study found that factors constraining students' writing were (1) students' lack of effort, (2) students' lack of a strategy for writing, (3) students' lack of autonomy and (4) students' absence of voice.
Originality/value
The authors discuss the practical implications of these factors for different stakeholders. There is a growing interest in postgraduate students' thesis writing processes. Surprisingly, no research exists on supervisors' perceptions of factors that constrain the thesis writing process of non-native English master's students.
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Muhammad Nizam Zainuddin and Dzulkifli Mukhtar
The purpose of this study is to examine postgraduate students' reflexive narratives about their entrepreneurial passion (EP) experience as a result of their direct participation…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine postgraduate students' reflexive narratives about their entrepreneurial passion (EP) experience as a result of their direct participation in a series of hand-selected experiential learning events within the curated identity workspace (IW) of a cross-disciplinary postgraduate entrepreneurship education programme.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a qualitative exploratory design using interpretative phenomenological analysis with a group of graduate students from a cross-disciplinary postgraduate entrepreneurship education program at an entrepreneurial university.
Findings
This study discovers that students’ EP experience is developed through the internalisation of an entrepreneurship learning activity into their personal identity through the harmonisation and reorganisation of their competing micro-identities of professional and entrepreneurial identity, prompting them to create a new identity that enables them to act entrepreneurially without relinquishing their existing professional identity.
Originality/value
This study demonstrates how entrepreneurial education programmes function as an IW and posits a theoretical model illustrating the hidden connections between entrepreneurial activity, personal identity and entrepreneurial learning experience that collectively influence individuals' entrepreneurial behaviour.
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S. Mostafa Rasoolimanesh, Azadeh Shafaei, Mehran Nejati and Poh Ling Tan
Building upon the attribution and brand resonance theories, this paper aims to investigate the effects of perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) in higher education…
Abstract
Purpose
Building upon the attribution and brand resonance theories, this paper aims to investigate the effects of perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) in higher education institutions on brand reputation, trust, equity and loyalty.
Design/methodology/approach
The data for this study were collected from international students of one public and one private university in Malaysia. Partial least squares-structural equation modelling was applied to analyse the data.
Findings
The findings revealed very strong effects of perceived CSR on brand reputation and trust. Moreover, the results determined the positive effects of brand reputation and trust on brand equity and loyalty. Additionally, findings support the positive indirect effects of perceived CSR on brand equity and loyalty through brand reputation and trust.
Originality/value
This study provides unique theoretical and practical contributions which can inform countries how to attract international students, particularly in post COVID-19 era.
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Matthew Smith, Spiros Batas and Yasaman Sarabi
The outbreak of COVID-19 has caused a slowdown of economic activity across the globe, which has resulted in high levels of disruption to labour markets. This study seeks to…
Abstract
Purpose
The outbreak of COVID-19 has caused a slowdown of economic activity across the globe, which has resulted in high levels of disruption to labour markets. This study seeks to examine how the outbreak of COVID-19 has impacted the search strategies of students seeking for an internship, and whether these have changed since the start of the pandemic. The study utilises the strength of weak ties hypothesis, social capital theory and status attainment theory to explore the changes in securing a position since the outbreak of COVID-19.
Design/methodology/approach
This study draws on data from two cohorts of MBA students seeking to secure internships: one before the outbreak and one during. A multinomial regression is employed to examine how students have used network ties to secure internships and how this has changed since the outbreak of COVID-19.
Findings
The multinomial regression results indicate that there was little difference in the strategies employed by students before the crisis compared to those that secured them during, potentially indicating that students are unwilling to deviate from typical job search strategies, especially in times of uncertainty.
Originality/value
This study provides insights into how network ties are used by job seekers during a period of economic and environmental uncertainty.
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