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The study aims to develop a validated scale to measure the workplace information literacy (WIL) skills of Quality Enhancement Cell’s staff based on the i-skills model.

To develop scale, a multi-stage scale development procedure was adopted. The comprehensive WIL scale was developed and validated in four phases. The first phase involved reviewing literature, content and face validity through experts. In the later stages, through survey method, the construct validity was tested with the application of the exploratory factor analysis and principal component analysis. The scale reliability further calculated through Cronbach’s alpha internal reliability coefficient. The SPSS was used to test and validate the designed scale.

A multi-dimensional, reliable 62-item scale classified into eight factors was developed. Results indicate that the designed scale achieved internal, face, content, construct validity and reliability. The refined scale has the potential to be used in similar context, however, can be modified for diverse contexts and situations.

To the best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first validated scale of WIL based on the i-skills model. Looking at the prior developed scales, this tool is unique in nature to focus on the skills of administrative staff.

This paper aims to investigate the impact of corporate governance and other related factors on the risk-taking of Islamic banks. Risk-taking is defined according to credit risk, liquidity risk and operational risk.

The study uses the two step system generalized method of moment (2SYS-GMM) estimation technique by using a panel data set of 129 Islamic banks (IBs) from 29 countries in the Middle East, South Asia and the Southeast Asia regions covering from 2008 to 2017. Governance variables incorporated include board size, board independence, chief executive officer (CEO) power, Shariah board and audit committee, as well as other control variables.

This study provides evidence that board size and Shariah board are positively and significantly related to credit and liquidity risk. Board independence and CEO power are negative and significantly associated with credit and liquidity risk, but the audit committee has a mixed relationship with bank risk. Male CEOs take more risk compared to the female and more board meeting has an inverse relationship with Islamic banks risk. Bank size, however, does not influence the level of risk in Islamic banks, but leverage has an inverse relationship with bank risk.

The present study sheds light on the risk-taking behaviour of the board of IBs, particularly the board independence and CEO power reducing the level of risk in IBs thereby contributing to the agency theory. Therefore, regulators and policymakers can use the findings of this study to strengthen the internal corporate governance mechanism to protect IBs at a time of financial distress. Moreover, it increases the trust of the shareholders and stakeholders in the effectiveness of governance reforms that have been pursued to reap long-term benefits.

To the best of the knowledge, this research is preliminary in examining the board behaviour on risk-taking of IBs from four different regions. The results are robust and suggest that the board of directors mitigate the level of risk in IBs.

This research proposes a multivariate control chart, whose parameters are optimized using genetic algorithms (GA) in order to accelerate the detection of a change in the vector of means.

This chart is based on a variation of the Hotelling T² chart using a sampling scheme called generalized multiple dependent state sampling. For the analysis of performances of this chart, the out-of-control average run length (ARL) values were used for different scenarios. In this comparison, it was considered the classic Hotelling T² chart and the T² chart using the scheme called multiple dependent state sampling.

It was observed that the new chart with its optimized parameters is more efficient to detect an out-of-control process. Additionally, a sensitivity analysis was performed, and it was concluded that the best yields are obtained when the change to be considered in the optimization is small. An application in the resolution of a real problem is given.

In this research, a multivariate control chart is proposed based on the Hotelling T² statistic but adding a sampling scheme. This makes this control chart more efficient than the classic T² chart because the new chart not only uses the current information of the T² statistic but also conditions the decision to consider a process as “in- control” on the statistic's previous information. The practitioner can obtain the optimal parameters of this new chart through a friendly program developed by the authors.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the main reasons for low uptake of robots in special education (SE), obtained from an analysis of previous studies that used robots in the area, and from interviewing SE teachers about the topic.

An analysis of 18 studies that used robots in SE was performed, and the conclusions were complemented and compared with the feedback from interviewing 13 SE teachers from Spain and the UK about the reasons they believed caused the low uptake of robots in SE classrooms.

Five main reasons why SE schools do not normally use robots in their classrooms were identified: the inability to acquire the system due to its price or availability; its difficulty of use; the low range of activities offered; the limited ways of interaction offered; and the inability to use different robots with the same software.

Previous studies focussed on exploring the advantages of using robots to help children with autism spectrum conditions and learning disabilities. This study takes a step further and looks into the reasons why, despite the benefits shown, robots are rarely used in real-life settings after the relevant study ends. The authors also present a potential solution to the issues found: involving end users in the design and development of new systems using a user-centred design approach for all the components, including methods of interaction, learning activities and the most suitable type of robots.

This paper aims to investigate the impact of board characteristics on CEO turnover performance relationship (TPR) in Indian listed firms.

A subset of the Standard and Poor’s Bombay Stock Exchange 500 (S&P BSE 500) Index companies was analyzed over the period 2015–2019 using the logistic (fixed-effects) regression model.

It was found that a weak relationship exists between CEO turnover and firm performance. With respect to board characteristics, board size was found to have a significant role in strengthening the TPR. However, other characteristics, such as board independence, multiple directors, board meetings and board gender diversity, played no role in influencing the TPR.

First, the study period is limited to five years, during which several sample firms did not face any CEO turnover event leading to small sample size. Second, this study considers only the board’s gender diversity, whereas other types of diversity are omitted. Third, this study does not differentiate between insider and professional CEOs.

The findings suggest that regulators should focus on the effective enforcement of laws to strengthen the TPR and improve the monitoring role of boards, particularly in emerging economies like India, which face type II agency problems in addition to traditional principal–agent conflict. The results also offer implications for corporations, investors and academic researchers, highlighting areas that need considerable attention pertaining to corporate governance.

This study discerns the impact of several board-related characteristics on the TPR, particularly after the introduction of the new Companies Act 2013 in the emerging economy of India, where it has not been explored extensively.

To analyze the effect of an ambidextrous supply chain strategy (ASCS) – i.e. the combination of exploration and exploitation practices – on each of the four dimensions of supply chain flexibility (SCF): information system, operating system, sourcing and distribution flexibility. Further, to evaluate the influence of implementing the ISO 9001 standard on the relationship between ASCS and SCF, and whether this certification directly affects the level of SCF. We ground our model in Resource Orchestration theory.

To perform this study, the authors used data collected from a sample of 145 non-ISO-certified firms and 157 ISO-certified firms.

ASCS does not affect all four dimensions of SCF in the same way. Rather, its effect is contingent on the presence of the ISO 9001 certification. An ASCS is shown to have a positive effect on information system flexibility irrespective of the presence of ISO 9001 certification whereas for the other three dimensions of SCF, the effect of ASCS is dependent on ISO 9001 implementation. Meanwhile, ISO 9001 implementation itself does not affect the level of SCF.

Managers can use the findings to configure their supply chain strategy based on the specific dimension(s) of SCF they seek to develop by implementing ASCS. Further, the results inform managers about the incentives for implementing ISO 9001.

Although prior studies have shown that an ambidextrous strategy enables firms and organizational units to adapt to the environment, there have been few prior studies on ambidexterity in a supply chain context. Further, although the extant literature has suggested that the ISO 9001 may facilitate ambidexterity, this link has remained largely theoretical. In fact, there is very little prior evidence on how the practice of ISO 9001 affects the supply chain.

The last three decades have witnessed strong development of global value chains (GVCs). Also, the Polish economy developed international production links along with the systemic transformation from the beginning of the 1990s. This led to changes in Poland's participation in GVCs.

The Purpose of the Chapter: The study's primary purpose is to characterise the evolution of Poland's participation in GVCs since the mid-1990s, including its key determinants.

Several research methods were used to achieve the study's goal, including critical literature analysis, statistical data analysis and descriptive methods. To determine Poland's share in the GVCs, the method of estimating domestic and foreign added value was used, which allowed for measuring the scale of production fragmentation and related trade in value-added.

The analysis allowed us to conclude that Poland has increased its share in GVCs, mainly inside the EU. Also, the industrial structure underwent positive changes. The increasing Poland's participation in the GVCs was primarily due to the inflow of FDI-related technology, the transformation of the economic structure, institutional and geographical factors. The improvement in the conditions for the functioning of the Polish economy has been reflected in international competitiveness rankings, where such attributes as geographical location, macroeconomic performance, human capital, market size, technical infrastructure and innovativeness are indicated. On the other hand, however, the tightness of the law, the efficiency of the government and public administration remains a challenge.

The paper refers to the framework of ambidexterity to explain the strategic paths of manufacturing SMEs in turbulent times, by investigating SMEs' strategic reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The authors adopted an inductive approach methodology. Using a qualitative research method, Italian manufacturing SMEs in different industries were interviewed to outline how they have faced the negative effects of the COVID-19 by considering the strategies implemented during the pandemic.

The study identifies three ambidextrous strategies for manufacturing SMEs to positively overcome the COVID-19 crisis: (1) playing different roles within the same market (business-to-business and business-to-consumer) simultaneously, (2) simultaneous entrance and management of multiple markets and (3) exploiting manufacturing knowledge for exploring product and business model innovation (simultaneous learning processes).

Results enrich the theoretical discussion on ambidexterity and SMEs, by stressing the strategic dimension of ambidexterity and including a more fine-grained analysis of the different firm’ strategic paths in times of crisis.

The paper provides practical suggestions for manufacturing SMEs on how they can react during turbulent times and crises by implementing ambidextrous strategies also thanks to the use of digital technologies.

This paper contributes to outlining the conditions for SMEs' resilience in the international competitive context by highlighting the perspective of ambidexterity based on the analysis of multiple case studies from manufacturing industries.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the alarming spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) began to shock the world on 31 December 2019, and it was first detected in Wuhan, Hubei, in China when a patient presented with pneumonia. To date, the virus has recorded over 2,088,663 cases worldwide. The impact of COVID-19 would be precisely worrying as it aggravated not only tourism but also the learning behaviour of tourism students. What are the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the learning behaviour of tourism students? What lessons could be learned to make it more sustainable for the students? And finally, what would be the suggested resilient strategies for the tourism students in the post-pandemic era? There is no original study conducted to focalise investigation on revealing the negative characteristics of COVID-19 and the learning curve of university students in Malaysia. However, the main objectives of this chapter are to provide an overview of the effects of COVID-19 in the learning behaviour of tourism students for sustainable education and the factors that distress students' minds and how these helped students to share the positive aspects with others. It is gradually visible that the effects of COVID-19 on learning behaviour and dangers to university students in Malaysia and their significance on students' emotional change or learning behaviours are not well perceived. This chapter recommends that educational institutions produce studies to proliferate and document the pandemic's impact on the educational system. It is crucial for tourism students for sustainable education in the current time.

While the performance benefits of relational resources and managerial ambidexterity have been widely discussed in coopetition literature, there is only limited evidence that illustrates the underlying relationships between these relational resources and managerial ambidexterity. Against this background, this paper aims to investigate how managerial ambidexterity moderates the innovation ambidexterity effects of relational resources (i.e. reciprocal investments and complementary resources).

This study forwards various hypotheses that are grounded within the theoretical tenets of the relational view and the dynamic capabilities perspective. To test the hypotheses, this study uses survey data provided by 313 firms that pursue horizontal coopetition relationships.

The research findings offer important insights in that while reciprocal investments lead to innovation ambidexterity, complementary resources do not result in such benefits. Additionally, managerial ambidexterity complements the relational resources to develop innovation ambidexterity if and only if both managerial exploration and exploitation are applied simultaneously.

As opposed to widely-held beliefs, this study finds that firms' use of complementary resources is not likely to lead to innovation ambidexterity even though such resources can help in developing strong relationships. In addition, although often overlooked, managerial ambidexterity plays a vital role in transforming relational resources into useful innovations for firms involved in coopetition relationships. It is crucial for firms that their managers balance their ambidextrous activities of exploration and exploitation so as to develop innovation ambidexterity.