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A well-established method of qualitative investigation is the focus group; a form of data collection involving multiple participants. Unlike interviews, focus groups enable participants to offer their opinion in a way that may be guided, inspired, or refuted by others, which enables a rich collection of perspectives to be gathered for research purposes. While traditionally focus groups have been conducted in the face-to-face setting, the COVID-19 pandemic led many researchers to adapt their practice, conducting online focus groups from their home. This paper describes some practical guidance for researchers who wish to conduct focus groups online. This guidance was derived using an autoethnographic approach, drawing on the experience of a researcher working on a large educational development project, reflecting on what was learned from running several focus group sessions. It is envisaged this work will act as an informative guide for researchers who wish to conduct research from home, or use an online medium to conduct focus groups, beyond the pandemic.

Purpose – For many African American college students, the pursuit of a college education has both rewards and risks. Oftentimes, African American students are faced with the decision to leave the comforts of their home communities in order to realize the American dream through the mechanism of higher education. The majority attend predominately White institutions (PWIs) where successful negotiation of this process not only has academic consequences, but psychological and cultural consequences as well. This chapter examines the psychological and phenomenological experience of African American students at PWIs of higher education.

Design/methodology/approach – The present day manifestation of historical and sociopolitical foundations of exclusion, racism, and discrimination in higher education are explored. There is a focus on how these latter themes relate to “campus culture” and institutions, with implications for psychological coping and educational success. Conclusions also focus on ways to begin to bring about change in this culture.

Findings – The successful negotiation of the collegiate environment, ultimately leading to the awarding of one's degree requires more than just passing classes; matriculation and retention in college also involves engaging one's social and cultural environment as well, particularly outside of the classroom.

Originality/value – As discussions of multiculturalism and inclusiveness in higher education find themselves anchored to abstract and theoretical conceptualization, or linked to an approach which focuses on “numbers” and “percentages” among student bodies, both of these approaches provide little indication that we are ultimately talking about the lived experiences of real people.

The Howard Shuttering Contractors case throws considerable light on the importance which the tribunals attach to warnings before dismissing an employee. In this case the tribunal took great pains to interpret the intention of the parties to the different site agreements, and it came to the conclusion that the agreed procedure was not followed. One other matter, which must be particularly noted by employers, is that where a final warning is required, this final warning must be “a warning”, and not the actual dismissal. So that where, for example, three warnings are to be given, the third must be a “warning”. It is after the employee has misconducted himself thereafter that the employer may dismiss.

In an effort to give credit where credit is due, recounts J. Maunsell White III’s role in the development of the Taylor‐White process for treating tool steel. A contemporary and colleague of Frederick W. Taylor, “The Father of Scientific Management”, White offers a classic example of the so‐called Matthew Effect, in which recognition accrues to those of considerable repute and is withheld from those who have not yet made their mark.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mediating role of self-esteem in the relationship between parent-adolescent relationship and adolescent compulsive buying behaviour. Using a sample of 300 adolescents (15-18 years) in India and the structural equation modelling technique, the findings reveal that self-esteem mediates the relationship between parent-adolescent relationship and adolescent compulsive buying behaviour.

The present study is the first to experimentally manipulate important parent-adolescent relationship and measures its impact on compulsive buying among a sample of 15-18-year old adolescents. Next, the authors investigate the mediating role of self-esteem for the above relationship. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling have been used in the study.

The study also establishes that familial conflict and cohesion acts as major sources of adolescent compulsivity. The authors have also examined the mediating role of self-esteem on the above relationships and found that adolescents’ compulsivity varies with the level of self-esteem (i.e. higher level of self-esteem leads to lower levels of adolescents’ compulsivity). The practical and theoretical implications are discussed within the context of adolescents’ compulsivity.

The study makes some inimitable and significant contributions to the literature. It portrays one of few studies to investigate compulsive buying during adolescence period – a hard to reach population. Here authors experimentally manipulate parent-adolescent relationship to investigate its impact on compulsive buying. The study’s findings in regard to mediating effect of self-esteem on the parent-adolescent relationship and adolescents’ compulsive buying behaviour suggest that compulsive buying begins during adolescence period and is a common coping strategy for both boys and girls.

Having a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can cause significant professional strain for parents. Compared to parents of typically developing children or children with other types of special needs, parents of children with ASD report being underemployed, having more difficulty accomplishing important work tasks or taking on new work assignments, and being viewed less favorably by supervisors. They also may be more likely to perceive themselves as stigmatized by coworkers, negatively impacting their abilities to develop or maintain meaningful relationships with others at work. All of these factors lead to parents of children with ASD earning less annual income than other types of parents and being more likely to experience loss of workplace motivation or lower overall job satisfaction. The negative career experiences of parents of children with ASD may also impact employers. Employees experiencing lower levels of motivation are less productive and more likely to quit their jobs, resulting in increased turnover expense. Because the number of working parents of children with ASD continues to grow as ASD rates increase, organizations would benefit from supporting parents of children with ASD through adopting flexible work–life balance policies, encouraging leaders to promote values of diversity and inclusiveness, and implementing workplace programs designed to support parents and educate coworkers.

This chapter introduces a new theoretical framework for developing emotion-related abilities according to the emotional intelligence (EI) construct definition of Mayer, Salovey, and Caruso (2006). The awareness, reflection, and management (ARM) model has been devised and demonstrates a triadic cycle of emotional ARM relating to affect, cognition, and behavior. The ARM model constitutes an approach to nurture emotion-related abilities (ability EI) and responds to criticism raised by Zeidner, Matthews, and Roberts (2009). The ARM Theory was corroborated by both learning theory and schools of counselling (SOC). The potential to develop emotion-related abilities in emotional awareness, reflection and reasoning, coping and management is discussed.

In recent years, the use of structural equation modeling (SEM) has become widespread in tourism and hospitality research. Because there are two different approaches to SEM (i.e., covariance-based SEM and variance-based, partial least squares SEM), this brings challenges for researchers about which SEM to use and what to report in each SEM approach. Therefore, the purpose of this chapter is to discuss the differences between CB-SEM and PLS-SEM and to provide comprehensive guidelines for researchers on how to apply each SEM. Within this context, the authors first briefly summarize the fundamentals and advantages of using SEM. Then, the authors explain in detail the major issues that should be considered when selecting between CB-SEM and PLS-SEM. Finally, to ensure rigorous research practices, the authors provide step-by-step guidelines for the application of both CB-SEM and PLS-SEM.