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Article
Publication date: 15 December 2020

Mara Franco and Raquel Meneses

The main purpose of this research is to understand if customers from countries with alleged similar culture expect services dimensions equally and to understand the level of…

Abstract

Purpose

The main purpose of this research is to understand if customers from countries with alleged similar culture expect services dimensions equally and to understand the level of proximity among those countries.

Design/methodology/approach

Quantitative methodology was used to test the level of proximity in customers' expectations about a service among different countries with alleged similar cultural patterns and if these customers share similar expectations about a set of service dimensions. This transnational research regarded the hotel service and data were collected from ten Latin countries: Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Romania, Brazil, Mexico, Uruguay, Bolivia and Chile. About 1262 customers answered a questionnaire about their expectations about service dimensions of the hotel service.

Findings

Findings show that Latin customers' expectations about services are not equal and that there is a low level of proximity or similarity of customers' expectations about service among Latin countries.

Research limitations/implications

Research was applied in one group of Latin countries that revealed a low level of proximity of customer's expectations about the hotel service. Further attempts should be made to expand research to additional Latin countries in order to allow understanding if the proximity level rises, decreases or maintains.

Originality/value

The major contribution was to use a cross-cultural approach to understand the level of proximity between the Latin countries in terms of customer's expectations about service dimensions, as these countries are frequently clustered into one group and customer's expectations are presumed to also be similar.

Article
Publication date: 11 November 2019

António Almeida, Sergio Jesus Teixeira and Mara Franco

The purpose of this paper is to get insights on a real-life portfolio of events from a demand-centred prospective, based on the identification of factors influencing the degree of…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to get insights on a real-life portfolio of events from a demand-centred prospective, based on the identification of factors influencing the degree of attendee’s satisfaction, with the ultimate aim of identifying commonalities and prospective cross-leverage strategies among events.

Design/methodology/approach

Data from attendees to three major events taking place in Funchal, the capital city of Madeira, were analysed based on multivariate statistics and categorical regression owing to the overwhelming presence of categorical data in the database. The econometric analysis pursued in this paper is based on a sample of 1,830 tourists.

Findings

The research demonstrates that the impact of the socio-economic variables and travel arrangements on attendees’ satisfaction is rather irrelevant, irrespective of the event under analysis, with cross-cutting factors defining the overall quality of any event (mainly technical aspects such as aesthetical elements, organization and opening hours) determinant in predicting the overall degree of satisfaction. Another key finding relates to the existence of a number of commonalities among events, in terms of tourists’ profiles, market orientation, themes and resources laying ground to define ready-to-apply cross-leverage strategies.

Research limitations/implications

The analysis concentrated on three major events taking place in the capital city of a peripheral region. The content of the questionnaire co-developed with the destination management organization with order to get access to a large sample of respondents.

Practical implications

Lessons to be learnt in terms of managing a disparate collection of events developed over time in an ad hoc manner. A few examples of cross-leverage strategies are put forward.

Originality/value

The analysis and empirical content portrayed in this study contribute to the literature on event portfolio via description of real-life case examples of how to develop competencies based on post-event analysis in a proactive manner.

Details

International Journal of Event and Festival Management, vol. 10 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1758-2954

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 December 2020

Remo Siza

This paper offers a contribution to the authors’ understanding of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on living conditions of Italian households. A large part of the research…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper offers a contribution to the authors’ understanding of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on living conditions of Italian households. A large part of the research, analysis, comments focused on the relation between the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and income of the Italian households does not capture the extent of the current changes. The focus on the highly differentiated impacts of the pandemic on three core dimensions of social integration (the sphere of work, that of welfare and that of the family) could help the authors to grasp the current transformations.

Design/methodology/approach

The research draws on Castel's distinction between three “zones” of post-Fordist employment societies with the aim to identify the processes and the conditions that carry individuals from one “zones” to the other. Theoretical considerations are supported by the findings of several qualitative and quantitative research carried out during the pandemic mainly by government agencies and international organizations as OECD and WHO. The analysis of healthcare expenditure, labour market and economic conditions of households is based on data of system of health accounts – SHA and from consumer studies undertaken by the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT). The data on the financial situation and expectations of households during the crisis used in the article were drawn from special surveys carried out by the Bank of Italy.

Findings

What the authors observe in Italian society is not a collapse of the three pillars of social and system integration of contemporary societies: work, family and welfare. The COVID-19 pandemic has reversed two social and institutional trends, that in last two decades had damaged these spheres of life and that seemed relentless. First, what has been reversed are: the progressive privatization of welfare and the enhancement of the politics of retrenchment; second, values and styles of life, radical processes of individualization, that undermined mutual relations of support and care, and households' ability to cope with old and new risks. At the same time, the pandemic is radicalizing the long-lasting tendency towards job insecurity, a high incidence of low-paid workers and a high proportion of undeclared work. The highly differentiated impacts of the pandemic on these three spheres of life are creating a wider plurality of living conditions and risks.

Social implications

The findings suggest that what the authors need is to reopen the debate on welfare priorities, programmes and areas of intervention, on public-private relationship that have been established in many sectors of welfare in the last decades in many European countries. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance welfare programmes capable of recognising the autonomous capacities of the family and informal relations to produce well-being, to cope with the crisis and to produce supportive relationships.

Originality/value

The pandemic highlighted that a progressive reduction of expenditure and politics of retrenchment produced welfare not able to face the needs of a large part of households. The pandemic highlighted that the changes that have taken place in the sphere of work, welfare and of the family in the last years have produced less and less governable effects.

Details

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 42 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-333X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 27 August 2024

Yussri Sawani, Corina Joseph and Siow Hoo Leong

This study aims to analyse the existing literature on factors motivating higher education institutions to disclose their Sustainability Development Goals initiatives.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to analyse the existing literature on factors motivating higher education institutions to disclose their Sustainability Development Goals initiatives.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used an interdisciplinary systematic review to develop a review protocol for Sustainability Development Goals and higher education institutions-related literature. Thematic analysis was performed using NVivo Release 1.4 to generate the theme related to the motivating factors of disclosure and further analysed using content analysis.

Findings

The study identified five clusters relating to Sustainability Development Goals and higher education institutions. The main subcategory consists solely of motivating factors as the main child note. The four main factors that motivate Higher Education Institutions to disclose their Sustainability Development Goals practices are the curriculum, research activities, human resource management and collaborations in research and operations.

Practical implications

This paper provides an overview of factors that contribute to Sustainable Development Goals disclosure among higher education institutions with regard to their primary functions of pioneering research, providing education, exercising governance and providing external leadership. Several implications in light of multiple stakeholders are provided in the paper.

Originality/value

This study is among the few studies that develop a review protocol for Sustainability Development Goals and higher education institutions-related literature. The review provides international overview of the current academic debate on the topic of Sustainability Development Goals disclosure.

Details

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 October 2021

Noor Liza Adnan, Rokiah Muda, Wan Noor Hazlina Wan Jusoh and Rohana Yusoff

Academic vitality and burnout studies can help the university administrators and lecturers to develop a quality education and provide more conducive working environments. Hence…

Abstract

Purpose

Academic vitality and burnout studies can help the university administrators and lecturers to develop a quality education and provide more conducive working environments. Hence, understanding and fostering what contributes to faculty and institutional vitality is central to prevent burnout during times of change. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to investigate the level of vitality amongst lecturers in Malaysia and to see if there is any significant difference in vitality between the subgroups of the demographic variables.

Design/methodology/approach

The study was conducted on 379 academicians from selected public and private universities, polytechnics and university colleges. Data were collected via Survey Monkey application. Descriptive analysis was conducted where mean values, standard deviation and median were calculated. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to see whether there is significant difference in vitality between the subgroups of the demographic. Additionally, Box and Whiskers plot was used to analyse the outliers to further scrutinise the extremely low mean scores. Open ended responses were also analysed to support the statistical analysis.

Findings

Results obtained reveal that almost 25% of the respondents indicate high vitality; another 25% are moderately vital; while about 50% fall under the group of low to very low vitality. Only administrative posts were found to have a significant difference in overall vitality, while age, gender, number of children, income level, working experience and teaching field showed no significant difference.

Originality/value

This paper differs from other previous studies as it defined the different levels of vitality amongst academics based on quartiles. One important contribution of this paper is the use of the slider scale with percentage as the scoring units that provide an infinitesimal rating option that enriches the collected data and enables application of mathematical operations, such as the mean. The use of this slider scale had also facilitated the analysis of outliers due to the scale’s discriminative feature to scrutinise those considered as outliers.

Details

Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, vol. 14 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2050-7003

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 September 2008

Robert Johnston and Panupak Pongatichat

The aim of this paper is to explore an important but relatively uncharted territory: the actual functioning of performance measurement systems (PMS) in their organisational…

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Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to explore an important but relatively uncharted territory: the actual functioning of performance measurement systems (PMS) in their organisational context. The objective of the paper is to document the ways in which managers go about aligning operational measures with their organisation's strategy in practice.

Design/methodology/approach

This research adopts an interpretive multiple‐case approach in order to gather rich data on the strategies used in managing operational PMS. Data were collected from detailed interviews with managers and supervisors in four government agencies.

Findings

The expectations were that the operations managers would adjust their performance measures to support the changes in strategy. This was not the case. All the interviewees employed one or more tactics to cope with the tensions between strategy and performance measures. The ten tactics identified are collected into three strategies; do‐nothing strategy, pseudo‐realigning strategy, and distracting strategy.

Research limitations/implications

This paper casts some doubt on the practice, rather than the principle, of strategy‐aligned performance management. More work needs to be carried out to ascertain how other, both for profit and public sector, organisations deal with these tensions in practice.

Practical implications

From a practitioner point of view it raises the question as to whether senior managers are exerting sufficient control over the alignment issue or providing suitable tools, methods or indeed incentives to bring alignment about.

Originality/value

The paper highlights a gap between theory and practice and suggests that the way to ensure implementation of “modern management methods,” might be to deal firstly with the issues of relevance, timeliness, structure, integration, and symmetry.

Details

International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 28 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3577

Keywords

Abstract

Details

From Human to Post Human Security in Latin America: Examples and Reflections from Across the Region
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80071-253-9

Article
Publication date: 13 February 2017

Yuliansyah Yuliansyah, Bruce Gurd and Nafsiah Mohamed

This research aims to investigate the extent to which business strategy mediates the relationship between reliance on integrative strategic performance measurement (RISPM) and…

2985

Abstract

Purpose

This research aims to investigate the extent to which business strategy mediates the relationship between reliance on integrative strategic performance measurement (RISPM) and organisational performance.

Design/methodology/approach

A self-administered survey of 157 managers in Indonesian financial institutions was used to test direct and indirect effects among the hypothesised variables.

Findings

The findings indicate that business strategy has a full mediating effect on the relationship between RISPM and organisational performance.

Originality/value

This study indicates that performance measurement systems should be designed in conjunction with business strategies to obtain superior performance. More specifically, in the Indonesian financial institutions, applying a differentiation strategy is found to be most effective in gaining competitive advantage and superior performance.

Article
Publication date: 13 February 2017

Alfonso J. Gil and Mara Mataveli

This paper aims to analyse the impact of organizational learning culture and learning facilitators in group learning.

2204

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to analyse the impact of organizational learning culture and learning facilitators in group learning.

Design/methodology/approach

This study was conducted using a survey method applied to a statistically representative sample of employees from Rioja wine companies in Spain. A model was tested using a structural equation model.

Findings

Statistical evidences suggest that both the learning culture and facilitators of group learning impact positively on group learning. In addition, it was found that the facilitation of learning has a positive influence on the learning culture.

Practical implications

From the paper, two sets of implications are extracted. The first is related to learning in the workplace – the importance of facilitating learning in group learning is emphasized. The second set refers to human resources development: organizational commitment to the development of informal learning is highlighted.

Originality/value

The paper explores the concept of learning culture and how it relates to the development of group learning, and an important system in the workplace is implemented.

Details

Journal of Workplace Learning, vol. 29 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1366-5626

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 September 2017

Alfonso J. Gil and Mara Mataveli

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of the processes of orientation and empowerment and the transfer of information in the learning culture.

1228

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of the processes of orientation and empowerment and the transfer of information in the learning culture.

Design/methodology/approach

The first hypothesis predicts that information mediates the relationship between orientation and empowerment processes and learning culture and the second hypothesis suggests that organisational size moderates the relationships between constructs. The empirical work is conducted in the wine industry in Spain through a structural equation analysis, partial least squares.

Findings

The hypothesis of mediation is confirmed; however, the hypothesis about size moderation is not confirmed.

Practical implications

The importance of the transfer of information in the foundation of a learning culture is highlighted and, therefore, its importance in the development of learning in organisations, especially in building learning organisations.

Originality/value

This research contributes to the literature on learning in organisations by sharing not only the characteristics that identify a learning culture, but also the mechanisms or processes through which a learning culture can be developed.

Details

Management Decision, vol. 55 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0025-1747

Keywords

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