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1 – 10 of 48Augustine Ebuka Arachie, Emmanuel Kalu Agbaeze, Hope Ngozi Nzewi and Emmanuela Obianuju Agbasi
The frequent turnover of academic instructors (lecturers) to other organizations and countries despite the autonomies their job offer them necessitated; this study aims to examine…
Abstract
Purpose
The frequent turnover of academic instructors (lecturers) to other organizations and countries despite the autonomies their job offer them necessitated; this study aims to examine the relationship between job crafting (JC) and embeddedness of lecturers to their jobs.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey research design was adopted. This study is carried out in the south-east region of Nigeria. The population of the study consisted of 8,051 academic staff of six randomly selected public universities in the region and a sample size of 367 was determined using Krejcie and Morgan (1970) formula. The primary and secondary source of data were used in data collection and were analysed using regression analysis at a 5% level of significance.
Findings
Result revealed that task crafting has a statistically significant positive relationship with employee job fit (r = 0.949, R2 = 0.900, F = 2699.473, p-value < 0.05), that relational crafting has a statistically significant positive influence on employee links (r = 0.982, R2 = 0.964, F = 8112.281, p-value < 0.05) and that there is a statistically significant positive correlation between cognitive crafting and sacrifice links (r = 0.962, R2 = 0.926, F = 3729.900, p-value < 0.05).
Practical implications
This study’s practical implication is that it will aid in making academics in Nigeria embedded in their jobs by encouraging them to craft their jobs so as to give them more meaning. In the field of research, this study helps to close the literature gap existing in JC and the role it plays in embedding academics in their jobs, hence, opening up a whole new research area with empirical data to back it up. For management, the study will help in knowing how to appropriately harness the potential of JC in making employees more engaged in their jobs.
Originality/value
Many studies have been carried out in the past in areas of JC and employee performance, non to the best knowledge of the researchers has been extended to studying JC as it relates to the embeddedness of academics to their jobs in Nigeria, this study is, therefore, a new addition to academic literature in this area.
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Latisha Reynolds, Samantha McClellan, Susan Finley, George Martinez and Rosalinda Hernandez Linares
This paper aims to highlight recent resources on information literacy (IL) and library instruction, providing an introductory overview and a selected annotated bibliography of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to highlight recent resources on information literacy (IL) and library instruction, providing an introductory overview and a selected annotated bibliography of publications covering all library types.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper introduces and annotates English-language periodical articles, monographs, dissertations and other materials on library instruction and IL published in 2015.
Findings
This paper provides information about each source, describes the characteristics of current scholarship and highlights sources that contain either unique or significant scholarly contributions.
Originality/value
The information may be used by librarians and interested parties as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and IL.
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Philippe Chereau and Pierre-Xavier Meschi
This study explores the relationship between intense exposure to entrepreneurship education and training (EET), defined as the deliberate practice of entrepreneurial learning, and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study explores the relationship between intense exposure to entrepreneurship education and training (EET), defined as the deliberate practice of entrepreneurial learning, and self-efficacy, for entrepreneurs in the post-creation stage. When analyzing this relationship, we account for individuals' entrepreneurial experience gained through parental ties with entrepreneurs as a moderating variable. In doing so, our research aims to contribute to the literature on the relationship between EET and entrepreneurial self-efficacy in several ways. First, we address the relationship by bridging the gap between intention and action in the context of actual entrepreneurs engaged in the early stages of their new ventures. In doing so and drawing on the theory of planned behavior, we complement the important stream of research on entrepreneurial intention by highlighting antecedents of entrepreneurial self-efficacy in the post-creation stage. Second, when analyzing the relationship between EET and self-efficacy for actual entrepreneurs, we approach EET as a deliberate practice of voluntary exposure to new entrepreneurial knowledge. Third, we provide new insights into the EET–self-efficacy relationship by exploring the moderating effect of entrepreneurial vicarious learning and, more specifically, the individual's embeddedness in an entrepreneurial parental environment. Finally, drawing from Kirkpatrick's (1959a, b, 1960a, b, 1996) reference framework on training and education evaluation, we provide empirical observations of EET outcomes evaluated in the later (“behavior” and “results”) stages.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on the theory of planned behavior as well as role modeling and absorptive capacity, we develop hypotheses that we examine using a sample of 76 French entrepreneurs who have created new ventures since less than five years.
Findings
The results show no significant direct influence of the intensity of EET on the different dimensions used to measure entrepreneurial self-efficacy. However, we find that entrepreneurial parental environment and non-entrepreneurial parental environment constitute two distinct moderating learning contexts leading to opposite EET intensity–self-efficacy relationships.
Originality/value
Our research has several implications for both scholars and practitioners. From a theoretical standpoint, we extend the debate on direct and vicarious experiences and their respective impact on self-efficacy (Bandura, 1977; Baron and Henry, 2010). In the context of actual entrepreneurs in the post-creation stage, our results neither support nor invalidate the superiority of one specific type of experience. In our research, vicarious experience appears fully effective when interacted with other sources of learning such as EET. As such, theoretical attention should shift from the stand-alone effect of vicarious experience on self-efficacy to its fostering effect on other learning sources. Rather than opposing these two (direct and vicarious) types of experiences, future research should theorize their joint effect on entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Moreover, in showing the importance of entrepreneurial parental environment, our research responds to the call to further study the contingent factors enhancing the impact of EET (and deliberate practice of entrepreneurial learning) on entrepreneurial self-efficacy (Fayolle and Gailly, 2015; Litzky et al., 2020; Rideout and Gray, 2013). From a practical standpoint, our results help formulate recommendations on how to design EET programs to enhance nascent and actual entrepreneurs' self-efficacy. Given the central role of an entrepreneurial parental environment in developing self-efficacy, we suggest that, in addition to teaching traditional entrepreneurial academic content, EET programs should allow students to vicariously experience the entrepreneur's curriculum through in-depth role modeling. More precisely, this role modeling should go beyond mere testimonials and engage students in trusted, intense, repeated interactions with inspiring instructors, both entrepreneurs and lecturers, to create and activate the fostering conditions of an entrepreneurial (parental) environment. In simulating quasi-parental role modeling within EET programs, academic institutions can contextualize the positive impact of EET on entrepreneurial venturing.
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Wendi Arant Kaspar and Gail A. Macmillan
As academic libraries face growing challenges from the declining economy, deteriorating administrative support, increasing patron demands and fiscal accountability, as well as the…
Abstract
As academic libraries face growing challenges from the declining economy, deteriorating administrative support, increasing patron demands and fiscal accountability, as well as the expanding competition from both technology and retail industries, there is an opportunity to be more responsive to academic library customers and more strategic in the services provided to them. A boutique service model, generally, employed in high-end retail industries, may be adapted for academic libraries to provide a proactive, specialized approach to serving faculty and students. In the context of libraries, this model is focused on service that is personalized, user-driven, and technology-enhanced. It can be employed with the efforts of subject librarians and library personnel with minimal additional cost and would have a profound impact on the customer service experience. This chapter describes how the Policy Sciences & Economics Library at Texas A&M University (TAMU) has successfully implemented a boutique services model. It discusses the emphasis on a customer-intimacy strategy, focusing on relationship building of the Library and liaison librarians with its customers, the faculty, and students of the Departments of Political Science and Economics and the Bush School of Government and Public Service. A number of collaborative projects and services have been borne out of this effort and the result has been a measure of embeddedness that permeates the curriculum and research activities of those serves and increases the effectiveness and impact of the services provided by the library. The various efforts and innovations are easily transferable and scalable to other types of libraries.
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Stephen K. Nkundabanyanga, Charles Omagor and Irene Nalukenge
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of the fraud triangle, Machiavellianism, academic misconduct and corporate social responsibility (CSR) proclivity of students…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of the fraud triangle, Machiavellianism, academic misconduct and corporate social responsibility (CSR) proclivity of students.
Design/methodology/approach
The present study surveyed 471 university students. The study was cross-sectional and employed structural equation modelling in statistical modelling.
Findings
The study provides evidence that perceived opportunity to cheat in examinations is the single most important factor accounting for significant variations in rationalization and academic misconduct. Similarly, low Machiavellians significantly get inclined to CSR ideals. The fraud triangle alone accounts for 36 per cent of the variations in academic misconduct, hence the error variance is 64 per cent of academic misconduct itself. This error variance increases to 78 per cent when a combination of perceived opportunity, rationalization, Machiavellianism is considered. Moreover, both Machiavellianism and academic misconduct account for 17 per cent of variations in students’ proclivity to CSR ideals.
Research limitations/implications
Results imply that creating a setting that significantly increases a student's anticipated negative affect from academic misconduct, or effectively impedes rationalization ex ante, might prevent some students from academic misconduct in the first place and then they will become good African corporate citizens. Nevertheless, although the unit of analysis was students, these were from a single university – something akin to a case study. The quantitative results should therefore be interpreted with this shortcoming in mind.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the search for predictors of academic misconduct in the African setting and as a corollary, for a theory explaining academic misconduct. Those students perceiving opportunity to cheat in examinations are also able to rationalize and hence engage in academic misconduct. This rationalization is enhanced or reduced through Machiavellianism.
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Paul Tristen Balwant, Rehaana Mohammed and Riann Singh
The purpose of this paper is twofold: investigate job resources as a moderator in the relationship between transformational leadership and employee engagement in service sector…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is twofold: investigate job resources as a moderator in the relationship between transformational leadership and employee engagement in service sector organizations, and investigate the relative importance of each dimension of job resources in relation to employee engagement.
Design/methodology/approach
Quantitative data were collected using a survey design for which 187 employees responded. These employees were sourced from retail stores across ten shopping malls located in Trinidad.
Findings
Findings from a hierarchical multiple regression supported the first two hypotheses and showed that transformational leadership was positively related to employee engagement and job resources moderated the relationship between transformational leadership and employee engagement. However, findings from structural equation modeling did not support the third hypothesis because supervisor support was negatively related to employee engagement.
Practical implications
Implications for service organizations include the provision of adequate job resources so that the effect of transformational leadership on employee engagement can be realized. Specifically, organizations must provide job control to employees, promote free access to information, create an innovative climate and develop a supportive work climate. Instead of focusing on the job resource of supervisor support, service organizations may need to build an environment that stimulates coworker support.
Originality/value
This study not only adds to the limited body of research on organizational leadership in emerging markets, but also contributes to the field of organizational behavior by showing an important condition (i.e. job resources) under which the relationship between transformational leadership and employee engagement varies and unraveling the dimensions of job resources in relation to employee engagement.
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Karen Williams Middleton, Antonio Padilla-Meléndez, Nigel Lockett, Carla Quesada-Pallarès and Sarah Jack
The purpose of this paper is to explores the influence of socialization upon the constitution and integration of learning leading to the development of entrepreneurial competence…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explores the influence of socialization upon the constitution and integration of learning leading to the development of entrepreneurial competence while at university, from the learner perspective. Self-reported learning is analyzed to illustrate ways in which students make use of institutional and social contributions of the university context.
Design/methodology/approach
The study investigates entrepreneurial journeys of 18 participants, either currently attending or recently graduated from three universities in three countries with both comparable and distinctive contextual elements. In depth analysis of individual life stories, focusing on self-identified critical incidents, is used to illustrate ways in which students, while at university, develop entrepreneurial competence for current and future practice.
Findings
Formal and non-formal learning remain important foundations for entrepreneurial competence development, delivered through designed content-centric structures. Informal learning – particularly mentor supported socialised learning – centring around the learner is key to solidifying learning towards entrepreneurial competence, through know-how and access to resources. The university emerges as an entrepreneurial learning space where students constitute and integrate learning gained through different forms.
Research limitations/implications
Cross-cultural analysis is limited as the paper emphasizes the individual’s learning experience relative to the immediate university context.
Practical implications
Universities play a critical role as entrepreneurial learning spaces beyond formal and non-formal learning. This includes dedicating resources to orchestrate informal learning opportunities and enabling interaction with the different agents that contribute to socialised situated learning, supporting entrepreneurial competence development. Universities need to take responsibility for facilitating the entirety of learning.
Originality/value
Socialised learning in combination with other forms of learning contributes to student development of entrepreneurial competence while situated in the university context.
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Jantje Halberstadt, Jana-Michaela Timm, Sascha Kraus and Katherine Gundolf
The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on how service learning approaches are able to foster social entrepreneurship competences. The aim of the paper is to formulate a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on how service learning approaches are able to foster social entrepreneurship competences. The aim of the paper is to formulate a framework of key competences for social entrepreneurship and to give first insights in how service learning actually has an impact on change in students’ set of competences.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses a mixed-methods approach combining qualitative data collectionmethods of learning diaries of the students and semi-structured interviews, including 40 master’s students studying at a German university in interdisciplinary learning settings and five instructors from the same universities. Analysis was carried out by means of qualitative content analysis.
Findings
This paper provides empirical insights about the competences that are being fostered by service learning. From these, a framework for social entrepreneurship competences is being derived.
Research limitations/implications
The set of competences should be further investigated, as it was derived out of a small data set. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to use the set of competences for social entrepreneurship as a basis for future research and on a longer-term perspective, which lead to substantial implications for educational practice.
Practical implications
This paper includes implications for new perspectives on service learning in the light of the development of a relevant framework for social entrepreneurship competence, having significant implications for educational practice in social entrepreneurship education.
Originality/value
With this paper, the authors fulfill the need of a framework of social entrepreneurship competences that serves as a foundation for educational practice and further research in the context of service learning and beyond.
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This study aims to examine current key debates on learning technologies in the everyday life of lecturers and explores their experiences of learning technologies.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine current key debates on learning technologies in the everyday life of lecturers and explores their experiences of learning technologies.
Design/methodology/approach
The research adopted a mixed method ethnographic approach to explore the perceptions of academics at a new university in the UK. The narrative and image data was collected via 30 interviews and an online forum and then subjected to grounded theory analysis. This study presents the findings of the study and discusses aspects of quality and meaningful engagement by academic staff with learning technologies in a higher education environment.
Findings
Analysis of the data revealed the central concepts of paradigms, paradoxes and professionalism. The diversity of perspectives of staff and students, skills, motivations and capabilities is fundamental to developing, supporting and promoting the innovative use of e‐learning and learning technologies in learning, teaching and assessment.
Originality/value
This study examined the reality of lecturers’ relationships with learning technologies in everyday life and the diversity of those lived experiences in relation to social change and educational ideologies. This study is, therefore, significant and adds to knowledge and understanding of academics’ perspectives which Hanson claims have previously been neglected. This research also contributes to previous studies of e‐learning and Actor Network theory (ANT).
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