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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 4 November 2020

Jacqueline M. Jumelet, Marjan J. Gorgievski and Arnold B. Bakker

The aim is to expand the challenge-hindrance framework and develop a coherent theoretical framework that explains individual differences in the way small business owners appraise…

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Abstract

Purpose

The aim is to expand the challenge-hindrance framework and develop a coherent theoretical framework that explains individual differences in the way small business owners appraise their job demands. Literature has shown that dealing effectively with job demands leads to competitive advantage and depends on individual appraisals.

Design/methodology/approach

For this qualitative study, 20 in-depth interviews were analyzed using a partially grounded theory approach.

Findings

Open and axial coding revealed a broader range of demands than have hitherto been studied, related to actions rather than job characteristics. Selective coding confirmed expectations based on the Conservation of Resources Theory that appraisals of demands differ between business owners and change over time depending on role identities, and material, social, personal and energy resource levels, via the valence (identities) and degree of anticipated outcomes. Business owners appraised certain demands as challenging when they were co-occurring with other demands usually categorized as challenges, whereas these same demands were appraised as hindering when co-occurring with demands usually categorized as hindrances.

Research limitations/implications

The results imply that appraisals can be influenced by societal context, life events, processes of formal and informal learning, personal growth and aging. These topics would be interesting avenues for future research.

Originality/value

The results of this study challenge our understanding of job demands in general and current categorizations of job demands as challenges versus hindrances in specific, by providing an in-depth, contextualized and dynamic view of the appraisal of demands related to owning and running a business.

Details

Journal of Managerial Psychology, vol. 37 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0268-3946

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 July 2021

Marjan Petreski

The purpose of this paper is twofold, namely, to investigate if living and working abroad influences the (subjective) health of return migrants and to understand if there are any…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is twofold, namely, to investigate if living and working abroad influences the (subjective) health of return migrants and to understand if there are any spillovers of return-migrant members onto health conditions of the family members left behind.

Design/methodology/approach

To that end, this paper uses the DoTM (Development on the Move) Migration Survey 2009, as well a propensity score matching to address selectivity on observables and IV (instrumental variables) for the selectivity on unobservables.

Findings

Results suggest that when equalized on observables, return migrants have better health than non-migrants. However, the reverse causality channel (less healthy individuals are more inclined to return) works to attenuate the true effect of return migration on health. Results further suggest a positive spillover effect of return migration on the health of the family members left behind, being mainly driven by the work of remittances sent while abroad, and not by the returned wealth or by the health knowledge transfer.

Originality/value

This paper offers at least two novelty lines to contribute to the current sparse of knowledge. First, it is among the scarce papers, and probably the only quantitative one, to investigate the nexus between return migration and health outcomes. Second, it heavily dwells on the role of selectivity (both on observables and unobservables) in determining the true (causal) effect of return migration on health.

Details

International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care, vol. 17 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1747-9894

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 September 2012

Muhammad Muzaffar Ali Khan Khattak, Samsul Draman, Alam Khan and Muhammad Usman Khattak

The purpose of this paper is to compare energy and macro‐nutrients intake in university hostel students in two countries of Asia.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to compare energy and macro‐nutrients intake in university hostel students in two countries of Asia.

Design/methodology/approach

Female students from the hostels of International Islamic University, Malaysia (IIUM), Kuantan Campus and NWFP, Agricultural University Peshawar, Pakistan were assessed for energy and macro‐nutrients intake. A total of 140 students were registered who volunteered to participate in this study. The age range of the registered students was 22‐26 years. On the day of the registration, age, height and weight were recorded; also, food frequency questionnaires (FFQs) were provided. The participants were asked to record alternately for three days whatever they ate during the prescribed week. Out of 140 students 139 returned the FFQs. From the anthropometry, the BMI was used to assess the under, ideal, over‐weight and obese students. From the FFQs, energy and nutrient intakes were calculated using the food composition tables for Malaysia and Pakistan and compared with the recommended nutrients intakes (RNIs).

Findings

The body weight for the required height among the Malaysian students was lower by 7.81 per cent than the reference value, whereas the body weight of Pakistani students matched to the reference weight for height. The Malaysian students were 28.0, 61.0, 5.5 and 0.9 per cent under, ideal, over‐weight and obese, respectively, whereas Pakistani students were 100 per cent in the category of ideal‐body weight. The total energy consumption was higher among Malaysian students by 9.93 per cent compared to the reference requirements, whereas the Pakistani students claimed to meet the requirements. In terms of nutrients balancing the Malaysian students were having the ideal combination of the macro‐nutrients and it was within the recommended range of 55‐60, 15‐20 and 25‐30 per cent for carbohydrates, protein and fat, respectively; whereas the balancing of the macro‐nutrients was poor among the Pakistani students and met the energy requirements at the expense of fat consumption.

Originality/value

The paper suggests that there is imbalance in macro‐nutrients intake among the students.

Details

Nutrition & Food Science, vol. 42 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0034-6659

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 23 August 2018

Garazi Azanza, Marjan J. Gorgievski, Juan Antonio Moriano and Fernando Molero

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between sales managers’ authentic leadership style and salespeople’s positive development.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between sales managers’ authentic leadership style and salespeople’s positive development.

Design/methodology/approach

Multilevel regression analysis was used to examine the data from 40 work teams from several Spanish retail companies (190 salespeople and 40 sales managers).

Findings

In line with previous studies, the analyses indicated that sales managers’ authentic leadership style as perceived by employees significantly predicted salespeople’s work engagement and psychological capital (PsyCap). Contrary to the expectations, salespeople’s perceptions of sales managers’ authentic leadership did not relate to sales managers’ self-ratings of authentic leadership, but instead related to sales managers’ gender (women were perceived as more authentic) and higher perceived frequency of leader–follower interaction.

Originality/value

The study contributes to the literature by testing if sales managers’ variables (gender and self-ratings of authentic leadership and perceived frequency of leader–follower interaction) predict salespeople’s perceptions of authentic leadership, which in turn, predict salespeople’s positive development (work engagement and PsyCap).

Details

Leadership & Organization Development Journal, vol. 39 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-7739

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 March 2020

Amir Reza Moravejolahkami, Zahra Esfandiari, Hadiseh Ebdali, Marjan Ganjali Dashti, Akbar Hassanzadeh, Hasan Ziaei and Nimah Bahreini Esfahani

Understanding consumers’ food safety practices are helpful in reducing foodborne illnesses. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the influence of education on knowledge…

Abstract

Purpose

Understanding consumers’ food safety practices are helpful in reducing foodborne illnesses. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the influence of education on knowledge, attitude and practices toward food additives.

Design/methodology/approach

This interventional study was performed by random sampling of 826 employees in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences from January 2018 to March 2019. The knowledge, attitude and practices of the employees toward food additives were assessed by a self-administered and structured questionnaire. Two-month education was conducted visually by using pamphlets, posters and leaflets. Descriptive statistics and paired t-test were done by SPSS24 at significant levels of p < 0.05.

Findings

The results showed that the respondents were very concerned about preservatives, colorants, and artificial sweeteners in foods. Before the education, the percentages collected for the knowledge, attitude and practice were 79.0, 48.9 and 46.7, respectively. Overall, knowledge scores were improved from 79.0 to 88.9 per cent when the education was offered. Safety attitude scores significantly increased, with a 50 per cent difference between the pre and post values. A significant difference was observed in the percentage of knowledge, attitude and practice of the employers before and after education (p < 0.05). Almost half of the respondents chose leaflets and pamphlets as a preferable tool for learning.

Originality/value

Education may be needed for improving knowledge and attitude about food additives. It also helped the respondents to select healthier food. This study suggests more communication programs regarding food safety issues.

Details

Nutrition & Food Science , vol. 50 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0034-6659

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 September 2023

Tomas Butvilas, Deimantė Žilinskienė, Remigijus Bubnys, Jordi Colomer, Dolors Cañabate and Marjan Masoodi

The importance of metacognitive awareness in learning, on the one hand, and the necessity of considering demographic variables, on the other hand, have encouraged the researchers…

Abstract

Purpose

The importance of metacognitive awareness in learning, on the one hand, and the necessity of considering demographic variables, on the other hand, have encouraged the researchers to conduct this research. This research aims to initially determine the relationship between the level of metacognitive awareness and demographic variables of students from three Lithuanian universities, such as age, gender and area of study.

Design/methodology/approach

The quantitative research strategy was applied in this study using the survey with the students scoring the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI). The research involved 296 students from three universities in Lithuania. Data were analysed using statistical analysis methods to compare different groups of subjects according to selected criteria.

Findings

It became evident that two demographic variables of age and the field of study had a relationship with knowledge of cognition. Conditional knowledge had a positive relation with the variables of age and the field of study. Procedural knowledge was the second area which had a relation with the area of this study. Therefore, it maybe be concluded that under specific circumstances, declarative and procedural knowledge is at the same level of performance while conditional knowledge revealed the highest relation with metacognitive awareness. Furthermore, no statistically significant difference was found with gender in all metacognitive subcomponents despite the initial assumption.

Research limitations/implications

One of the limitations of this study is that the research did not address the actual application of metacognitive strategies during teaching and learning. The research would benefit from in-depth class observation and triangulation of data from various sources. The teaching model should be tested in a larger population to obtain aggregated results for a vast population.

Originality/value

Results are significant in identifying students' cognitive abilities which can be attributed to various factors such as creativity, which in turn may efficiently foster students' potential. Metacognitive awareness can be developed by explicitly informing students about the importance of metacognition and life-long learning. Lecturers' role-modelling induce students to continuously assess, monitor, plan and reflect on their own learning process as well as to recognize cognition along with metacognitive prompts, questions, checklists, reports and discussion of topics in the learning process.

Details

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

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 May 2021

Fatemeh Nouri, Fahimeh Haghighatdoost, Noushin Mohammadifard, Marjan Mansourian, Masoumeh Sadeghi, Hamidreza Roohafza, Azam Khani and Nizal Sarrafzadegan

The associations between legume consumption and cardiovascular events (CVEs) have extensively been studied. However, there are few studies that considered longitudinal association…

Abstract

Purpose

The associations between legume consumption and cardiovascular events (CVEs) have extensively been studied. However, there are few studies that considered longitudinal association between legume consumption (with repeated measurements across time) and CVEs in low-income countries where legume consumption is lower than the Western countries. The authors aimed to investigate the long-term longitudinal relationship between soybean, non-soybean and overall legume consumption and CVEs using repeated measures of legumes and time-varying confounders in a cohort study of the general population.

Design/methodology/approach

The current study was performed within the framework of the Isfahan cohort study among 5,432 healthy participants. The participants were followed-up for fatal and non-fatal myocardial infarction, unstable angina, fatal and non-fatal stroke and sudden cardiac death for 13 years. Dietary intake was evaluated using a validated food frequency questionnaire in 2001, 2007 and 2013. The hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for CVEs between categories of soybean, non-soybean and overall legumes intake were examined using marginal Cox's regression analysis.

Findings

Long-term consumptions of overall legumes more than three times per week and non-soybean three times or more per week compared with those who had less than once a week were associated with 19.5% (HR = 0.805, 95% CI: 0.650,0.998; p < 0.048) and a 18.5% (HR = 0.815, 95% CI: 0.673, 0.988; p < 0.037) lower risk of CVEs in the general population, respectively. However, our findings revealed no significant reduction in CVEs following a higher intake of soybeans.

Originality/value

In the long run, even modest consumption of legumes, but not soybeans alone, can be effective to reduce CVEs risk in a low-income population. Further studies are warranted to confirm our results in other populations, examine the associations by the type of cardiovascular events and determine any possible threshold effects in this regard.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 123 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 April 2023

Byron W. Keating and Marjan Aslan

The service recovery literature provides little guidance to firms on how users of self-service technology (SST) perceive assistance provided by human and non-human service agents…

Abstract

Purpose

The service recovery literature provides little guidance to firms on how users of self-service technology (SST) perceive assistance provided by human and non-human service agents following a service obstacle. This research responds by addressing two important research questions about SST recovery: (1) how are perceptions of assistance provided following a service obstacle influenced by a customer's psychological needs? and (2) does supporting the psychological needs of customers positively impact continuance intentions following a service obstacle?

Design/methodology/approach

Data are collected to address the research questions via five experiments that explore how assistance provided by a non-human (vs human vs no assistance) service agent contributes to perceptions of psychological support and continuance intentions following a service obstacle while volitionally using SST.

Findings

The results show that while users of SST would prefer to do so without an obstacle requiring intervention of a service agent, if assistance is required then the psychological need support elicited from a non-human service agent was vital to an effective recovery. Further, the findings highlight some boundary conditions for this relationship, with the impact of customer perceived need support on continuance intentions found to be sensitive to fit between the task and assistance provided and the complexity of the task being completed.

Originality/value

Much of the prior service recovery literature has emphasized the different types of tactics that can be used (e.g. apologizing, monetary compensation and explaining what happened), failing to appreciate the role of different types of service agents or the underlying psychological process that explain the relative merit of such tactics. The present research shows that for these tactics to influence continuance intentions, they must be provided by a relevant service agent and support a customer's psychological need for autonomy, competence and relatedness. The hypothesized impact of psychological need support on continuance intentions was also observed to be contingent upon the fit between the task and the type of assistance provided, where the level of task complexity attenuated this fit.

Article
Publication date: 25 April 2023

Atefeh Momeni, Mitra Pashootanizadeh and Marjan Kaedi

This study aims to determine the most similar set of recommendation books to the user selections in LibraryThing.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to determine the most similar set of recommendation books to the user selections in LibraryThing.

Design/methodology/approach

For this purpose, 30,000 tags related to History on the LibraryThing have been selected. Their tags and the tags of the related recommended books were extracted from three different recommendations sections on LibraryThing. Then, four similarity criteria of Jaccard coefficient, Cosine similarity, Dice coefficient and Pearson correlation coefficient were used to calculate the similarity between the tags. To determine the most similar recommended section, the best similarity criterion had to be determined first. So, a researcher-made questionnaire was provided to History experts.

Findings

The results showed that the Jaccard coefficient, with a frequency of 32.81, is the best similarity criterion from the point of view of History experts. Besides, the degree of similarity in LibraryThing recommendations section according to this criterion is equal to 0.256, in the section of books with similar library subjects and classifications is 0.163 and in the Member recommendations section is 0.152. Based on the findings of this study, the LibraryThing recommendations section has succeeded in introducing the most similar books to the selected book compared to the other two sections.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, itis for the first time, three sections of LibraryThing recommendations are compared by four different similarity criteria to show which sections would be more beneficial for the user browsing. The results showed that machine recommendations work better than humans.

Details

Global Knowledge, Memory and Communication, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2514-9342

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 September 2016

Marjan Barakzehi, Fatemeh Asadi and Ali Akbar Ghareh Aghaji

Pilling is a fabric surface fault comprising of small, fuzzy balls on the surface of a fabric that leads to poor handle and quality. The purpose of this paper is to investigate…

Abstract

Purpose

Pilling is a fabric surface fault comprising of small, fuzzy balls on the surface of a fabric that leads to poor handle and quality. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of the fabric color in terms of depth and hue on the visual perception of pilling on the fabric surface.

Design/methodology/approach

Acrylic fabrics were prepared at various color depths and hues and then were applied with relatively equal amount of pilling on the surface of samples. The amount of perceived pilling was evaluated by human observers by employing paired comparison method and the results were analyzed using statistical methods.

Findings

According to the results, color depth and the visual perception of pilling in achromatic sample were nearly independent. Color hue can be considered as an important factor in the visual perception of pilling so when the color contrast between the pill and background decreases, the visual perception of pilling decreases as well. Hence, the achromatic sample have the most amount of pilling perception whereas green and blue samples show less pilling, in visual sensation.

Originality/value

There is a strong demand for acrylic fabrics in apparel industry but they have high tendency for pilling formation. To overcome this problem, experts have suggested some methods to prevent or reduce pilling. If it is proved that color influences on pilling perception, an useful instruction will be available for acrylic fabric manufacturers in order to satisfy their customer with good quality of products. In this work, the authors tried to find such relationships between the color and the pilling perception for human observers.

Details

International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology, vol. 28 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0955-6222

Keywords

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