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Article
Publication date: 28 June 2024

Maria Luisa Farnese, Paola Spagnoli, Liliya Scafuri Kovalchuk and Michael Tomlinson

The evolving dynamics of the labour market make graduates’ future employability an important issue for higher education (HE) institutions, prompting universities to complement the…

Abstract

Purpose

The evolving dynamics of the labour market make graduates’ future employability an important issue for higher education (HE) institutions, prompting universities to complement the conventional graduate skills approach with a wider focus on graduate forms of capital that may enhance their sense of employability. This study, adopting a capital perspective, explores whether and how teachers in HE, when acknowledged as knowledgeable trustworthy actors, may affect graduates’ employability. It investigates how they can mobilise undergraduate cultural capital through socialisation, and shape their pre-professional identity, paving the way for university-to-work transition.

Design/methodology/approach

To test the hypothesised model, a self-report online questionnaire was administered to a sample of 616 undergraduates attending different Italian universities. Multiple mediating models were tested using the SEM framework.

Findings

Results supported the tested model and showed that trust in knowledgeable HE teachers was associated with undergraduates’ perceived employability both directly and through both mediators (i.e. academic socialisation and identification with future professionality).

Research limitations/implications

This research explores a capital conceptualisation of graduate employability, identifying possible processes for implementing graduates’ capital across their academic experience and providing initial evidence of their interplay and contribution to transition into the labour market.

Originality/value

These findings provide empirical support to possible forms of capital that HE institutions may fulfil to enhance their undergraduate employability throughout their academic career, which serves as a liminal space allowing undergraduates to begin building a tentative professional identity.

Details

Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning, vol. 14 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-3896

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 December 2023

Bianca Amici and Maria Luisa Farnese

Weick and Sutcliffe identified five principles that enable high-reliability organizations (HROs) to address environmental complexity and manage unexpected events. The current…

Abstract

Purpose

Weick and Sutcliffe identified five principles that enable high-reliability organizations (HROs) to address environmental complexity and manage unexpected events. The current study aims to adopt this sensemaking perspective to analyze accidents within a typical HRO sector, namely maritime transport.

Design/methodology/approach

Through a retrospective case study analysis, this study focused on seven oil tanker accidents, using them as illustrative examples.

Findings

Findings show how the five principles contributed to the accidents' occurrence, explaining how failures in sensemaking affected the crew's capability to both prevent errors and cope with their consequences, thus leading to disasters.

Research limitations/implications

Overall, the study offers an applicative contribution showing how this model may provide a reliable framework for analyzing the psychosocial factors affecting an accident. This approach deepens the understanding of how latent factors are enacted and how the prevention and error management phases interrelate within a comprehensive flow of the entire accident sequence. Furthermore, the study emphasizes consistent patterns that emerge across multiple accidents within the same sector, in order to learn valuable lessons to improve safety measures in the future.

Originality/value

This study constitutes an exemplary application in support of how Weick and Sutcliffe’s model is valuable for investigating HROs. It offers a second-order interpretative framework to understand accidents and underscores the interplay among these factors during the dynamic development of an accident.

Details

Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal, vol. 33 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0965-3562

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 November 2018

Maria Luisa Farnese, Francesco Zaghini, Rosario Caruso, Roberta Fida, Manuel Romagnoli and Alessandro Sili

The importance of an error management culture (EMC) that integrates error prevention with error management after errors occur has been highlighted in the existing literature…

1993

Abstract

Purpose

The importance of an error management culture (EMC) that integrates error prevention with error management after errors occur has been highlighted in the existing literature. However, few empirical studies currently support the relationship between EMC and errors, while the factors that affect EMC remain underexplored. Drawing on the conceptualisation of organisational cultures, the purpose of this paper is to verify the contribution of authentic leadership in steering EMC, thereby leading to reduced errors.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors conducted a cross-sectional survey study. The sample included 280 nurses.

Findings

Results of a full structural equation model supported the hypothesised model, showing that authentic leadership is positively associated with EMC, which in turn is negatively associated with the frequency of errors.

Practical implications

These results provide initial evidence for the role of authentic leadership in enhancing EMC and consequently, fostering error reduction in the workplace. The tested model suggests that the adoption of an authentic style can promote policies and practices to proactively manage errors, paving the way to error reduction in the workplace.

Originality/value

This study was one of the first to investigate the relationship between authentic leadership, error culture and errors. Further, it contributes to the existing literature by demonstrating both the importance of cultural orientation in protecting the organisation from error occurrence and the key role of authentic leaders in creating an environment for EMC development, thus permitting the organisation to learn from errors and reduce their negative consequences.

Details

Leadership & Organization Development Journal, vol. 40 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-7739

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 November 2017

Paola Spagnoli, Maria Luisa Farnese, Francesca D’Olimpio, Andrea Millefiorini and Liliya Scafuri Kovalchuk

Although Colquitt’s Organizational Justice Scale (COJS) is one of the most widely used organizational justice scales (OJS) worldwide, a rigorous adaptation and validation in Italy…

Abstract

Purpose

Although Colquitt’s Organizational Justice Scale (COJS) is one of the most widely used organizational justice scales (OJS) worldwide, a rigorous adaptation and validation in Italy is still missing. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to examine the construct validity and reliability of the Italian translation of the scale.

Design/methodology/approach

Factorial and concurrent validity were examined to assess construct validity. A confirmatory factorial analysis through structural equation modelling was conducted on five factorial models: one-factor, two-factor, three-factor, four-factor and second-order factor model. Concurrent validity implied the examination of the relationships between organizational justice and job satisfaction (convergent validity) and between organizational justice and workplace bullying (discriminant validity).

Findings

Evidence of the prevalence of the original Colquitt (2001) four-factor model was found, though also the second-order model obtained adequate goodness of fit. Findings supported both convergent and discriminant validity. Reliability analysis reported evidence of excellent internal consistency. Thus, the Italian version of the OJS can be used in Italy for research and practical purposes.

Originality/value

This is the first study properly addressing the factorial and concurrent validity of the OJS in Italy.

Details

International Journal of Organizational Analysis, vol. 25 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1934-8835

Keywords

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