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The 2021 Malacca state election was the first state election in West Malaysia held post-2018 general election during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a state where the governmental power fell into the hands of Pakatan Harapan (PH) during the 2018 general election before switching hands to Barisan Nasional (BN) and Perikatan Nasional (PN). After losing majority support, the state assembly was dissolved to make way for a fresh election. Although the Chinese voters in this election did not show much swing towards non-PH party, the support for PH is no long as enthusiastic as before. This chapter studies the political landscape in the 2018 general election focussing on Malacca before analysing the 2021 Malacca state election result that was held during a global health crisis.

School counselors are committed to serving students' social-emotional, postsecondary, and academic needs while they navigate primary and secondary school (American School Counselor Association, 2019). Much has been said about the ways in which school counselors can impact postsecondary outcomes and social emotional health. It is important that we also address the ways school counselors can impact positive academic outcomes as it is intertwined in postsecondary options and success. For Black males, academic success has traditionally been met with systemic barriers (i.e., school-to-prison pipeline, lower graduation rates, lower incomes, higher unemployment rates, and lower college going rates (National Center for Edcuation Statisitics, 2019a, 2019b, 2020a, 2020b) and low expectations. School counselors are charged to be leaders and change agents for social justice and equity in our schools by the American School Counselor Association (ASCA, 2019) and can impact systemic change. This chapter will explore ways in which school counselors can impact positive academic outcomes for Black males. School counselors as change agents and advocates are positioned to make a real impact for Black male academic success. The authors will also provide some recommendations and best practices for elementary, middle, and high school counselors as they work with students, teachers, and families from an anti-deficit model as outlined by Harper (2012).

The overall goal of science is to build a valid and reliable body of knowledge about the functioning of the world and how applying that knowledge can change it. As personnel and human resources management researchers, we aim to contribute to the respective bodies of knowledge to provide both employers and employees with a workable foundation to help with those problems they are confronted with. However, what research on research has consistently demonstrated is that the scientific endeavor possesses existential issues including a substantial lack of (a) solid theory, (b) replicability, (c) reproducibility, (d) proper and generalizable samples, (e) sufficient quality control (i.e., peer review), (f) robust and trustworthy statistical results, (g) availability of research, and (h) sufficient practical implications. In this chapter, we first sing a song of sorrow regarding the current state of the social sciences in general and personnel and human resources management specifically. Then, we investigate potential grievances that might have led to it (i.e., questionable research practices, misplaced incentives), only to end with a verse of hope by outlining an avenue for betterment (i.e., open science and policy changes at multiple levels).

This study aims to examine digital consumer culture and behavior in the community, namely, 180° Movement Digital Training Center (DTC), in Jakarta, Indonesia. It aims to describe the dynamics of digital consumer culture in contemporary society, particularly as experienced by the youth community in Jakarta in the context of socio-technology relations and incorporates it into the diagram of digital consumer culture network.

This research uses a constructivist qualitative approach and socio-technical relation analysis through actor-network theory and digital consumer culture.

The study finds that the individual model of digital consumption is constructed through the process of problematization, interessement, enrollment and mobilization of individuals. It generates a culture in which consumers are constantly up to date with high-intensity information, but within increasingly shorter timeframes, while also considering principles of affordability, needs, desires and satisfaction. The network of digital consumer culture construction among informants is peculiar and unstable.

The study of digital consumer culture within the 180° Movement DTC community highlights how consumer behaviors of its members are facilitated and interconnected within a digital cultural network. However, this research is constrained by the dialectical interplay between Christian principles and the emerging values of consumer culture, a result of the scarcity of theoretical resources and information. This study also provides a specific contribution as a foundation for mapping the volatile digital consumer culture for researchers.

Understanding the socio-technological relationships and consumption behavior of the youth community could help digital platforms tailor their services more effectively. It could also guide the 180° Movement DTC in developing programs that resonate with the youth, bridging the gap between the physical and virtual realms. Ultimately, this could lead to a more engaged and digitally literate society.

This study contributes to a broader societal understanding of how digital technology is shaping consumer behavior and identity within youth communities, which can influence social dynamics and interactions. It provides insights into the potential social impacts of digital technology, such as changes in relationships, communication patterns and self-perception, informing societal discourse on digital culture.

In addition to presenting socio-technological analysis on Indonesian consumer culture using actor-network theory, some also show that studies on digital connectivity ambivalence that concern the relationship between humans as actors and non-humans as actors have become one of the popular sociology studies at present.

This study aimed to identify and describe how mentoring influences the mentor, by operationalising and specifying learning outcomes involved in mentoring.

This study used an action research approach, by uniting theory and practice to explore new ways of learning and evolve the field of practice in education. Thematic analysis was used to identify and organise patterns or themes that emerged from the data.

The results showed that mentoring changed the mentors' perspectives towards improved understanding, more flexibility and approval of other cultures. It seems that mentoring expanded the mentors' search for values, wishes and resources, including an awareness that our values, wishes and needs are more similar than different. Mentoring also seems to have improved the ability to reformulate, be flexible, strive to optimise user engagement and engage with people as they are, based on their own prerequisites.

The low number of participants means the results cannot be generalised, and voluntary participation may have led to more motivated involvement and positive results.

This study shows that mentoring has had an impact on students' development of intercultural competence and cultural sensitivity through regular meetings with individuals from a different cultural background. Mentoring seems to have revealed insights into underlying prejudices and changed perspectives towards better understanding, thus increased acceptance of other cultures.

Search for similar studies shows a lack of research that operationalises and specifies the learning outcomes that mentors gain from being a mentor.

In this article, the outcomes of a survey aimed to investigate how aware of and how capable coaches in higher vocational Dutch education perceive themselves to assist students displaying mental health and well-being issues are presented. Additionally, the article explores coaches’ perceptions regarding the frequency, form of help offered, topics to be tackled and the preferred form in which this help should be provided.

The author conducted a survey that gathered qualitative and quantitative data from coaches (N = 82) at a Dutch University of Applied Sciences in the north of the Netherlands. A differentiation in coaches’ number of years of teaching and coaching experience was considered.

The outcomes of the data analyses showed that overall, coaches claimed to be very aware of students’ mental health and well-being-related issues and that female coaches tend to be more aware of these than male coaches. The group of coaches with 5–25 years of coaching experience resulted in being less trained to notice when students struggle with mental health and well-being issues. Overall, coaches indicated to be tentatively willing to assist such students and reported to have a rather low ability and capability to assist students who displayed mental health and well-being issues. More than half of the respondents declared that “face to-face” was the most appropriate approach to address mental health and well-being topics, and most of the respondents (43%) answered that it should be “offered at student’s request.” Some suggested topics to be offered were stress, depression, anxiety, study-related issues, study motivation, persistence, emotional intelligence and emotional resilience. Coaches proposed to be provided with trainings that equip them with the necessary knowledge, tools, and concrete mental health and well-being topics that could be addressed during coaching. Additionally, there should be a clear distinction between professional mental health help and coaching for mental health and well-being in universities.

There were very few studies that reported on coaching for mental health and well-being in higher education after the Covid-19 pandemic in the Netherlands to compare the results with; the sample size of this survey was small; the survey was designed to capture only the coaches’ perceptions on students’ mental health-related issues.

By performing this survey, more empirical knowledge is added regarding higher education coaches’ perception of their awareness, willingness, capability and ability to assist students who display mental health and well-being issues in general, and students affected by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in particular. Furthermore, insights regarding higher education coaches’ perception on the frequency, form of the help offered, topics to be tackled and form in which this help to be offered were gathered.

By performing this survey, more empirical knowledge is added regarding higher education coaches’ perception of their awareness, willingness, capability and ability to assist students who display mental health and well-being issues in general, and students affected by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in particular. Furthermore, insights regarding higher education coaches’ perception of the frequency, form of the help offered, topics to be tackled and the preferred form in which this help should be offered were gathered.

Despite the high rates of repatriate attrition, organisations in developing countries continue to send some of their employees to study in tertiary institutions in developed countries to acquire and build competencies that are deemed strategically important for contemporary work. Although several studies have been conducted on expatriate experience and challenges, those relating repatriation experiences are limited, particularly those concerning organisationally assigned scholars (employees who are sponsored to study overseas). Consequently, the present study explored the intention to stay or leave of organisationally assigned Ghanaian scholars who pursued higher degrees in Australia.

To understand the decision of organisationally assigned sponsored scholars to either stay in or leave the host-organisation upon their return, a phenomenological methodology was adopted to explore the lived experiences of organisation assigned scholars (OAS) from Ghana, studying in Australia. The face-to-face interview approach was used to interview 20 Ghanaians who pursued their further studies in Australia. The interviewees consisted of six females and 14 males.

The results reveal that for expatriate’s in this study, the decision to stay or leave the organisation upon repatriation was made mid-way through the expatriation process in the host county. Hence, organisations intending on retaining their OAS when they return home must focus their support and engagement efforts during this crucial period.

Although they are away on further studies, OAS are still active members of the organisation. Therefore, organisations need to maintain contact with them (OAS), constantly check progress of their study and provide some support, as they might motivate them to want to return and work with the organisation. Consequently, more effective strategies (those for managing them while they are away and those for managing them when they return) should be deployed to incentivise their expatriate to return home.

The study explored an important yet understudied research questions in the repatriation literature. By studying the decision of OASs to either return and stay in or leave an organisation back home contributes uniquely to the existing literature, as studies focusing on that population (i.e. OAS’s) are scarce.

This paper aims to examine the link between the Big Five personality traits and self-efficacy for teamwork, positioning manifest needs as intervening variables. The primary purpose of the analyses is to further develop some of the key variables contributing to team performance.

Relationships were tested with conditional process analysis. The sample includes 315 students from a large university. Likert measures were used to operationalize survey items, which are based on existing scales in the literature.

Each of the Big Five dimensions are related to teamwork self-efficacy (TSE), with manifest needs having significant mediating effects. For example, conscientiousness displayed a positive relationship to TSE, with both the need for affiliation and the need for power acting as significant intervening variables. Such relationships for each personality dimension are discussed fully in the paper.

High functioning teams need members who share a level of self-efficacy for engaging in teamwork. Leaders who must form their teams may find it useful to consider TSE, and the individual attributes that contribute to this important construct. The authors’ examination of the roles of both personality and manifest needs should offer some essential tools for this objective.

This paper contributes to our understanding of the relationship between personality and TSE by investigating manifest needs as process variables.

The purpose of this study is to identify motivations for the uptake of crowdfunding by micro-entrepreneurs in an emerging economy and the extent to which these vary by entrepreneur characteristics, sector and crowdfunding model.

The authors conduct qualitative analyses of data collected in interviews with 57 micro-entrepreneurs in Morocco, all of whom used crowdfunding in fundraising.

The authors identify six key motives for crowdfunding adoption by micro-entrepreneurs including financing needs, legitimacy seeking, sense of achievement, network-building, entrepreneurial and marketing competence enhancements. They also find evidence for moderation effects of fundraiser characteristics on likelihood of adoption, including gender, age, education, training experience and sectoral affiliation. Furthermore, the authors show that the relative importance of different motives varies by the type of crowdfunding model used.

The original aspects of the study include the examination of adoption motives in an emerging market context and the distinguishing between entrepreneurs’ adoption motives based on different gender, age, education, training experience, sectoral affiliation and crowdfunding model used. Moreover, the authors show that enhancement of competencies is a more dominant motive in the emerging market context than mentioned in earlier studies in developed contexts.

This study aims to better understand the effects of speeches as a valuable communication tool for central banks. It extends the analysis of the effects of public speeches on jumps to determine whether individual speakers matter partly because of their name, position or institution.

This study detects intraday jumps using a robust-to-jump volatility estimator that accounts for deterministic seasonality. As a result, this study removes spurious jumps that occur when volatility is high and consider the relatively small jumps that occur when volatility is low. After identifying jumps, this study examines their reactions to senior official speeches and macroeconomic news surrounding the US and European Union (EU) financial crises.

Despite having the most influential individual speakers, this study finds that the impact of the Federal Reserve (Fed) and European Central Bank (ECB) is mitigated because the two institutions have a relatively small impact on currency jumps. This finding shows that the speaker’s name is more important than his or her institution affiliation. While the Federal Reserve Bank President and Chief Executive, as well as ECB board members, significantly reduce jump sizes, particularly during the EU crisis period, both the Fed Chairman and the ECB President increase the magnitude of the jump in both the US crisis and noncrisis periods, contributing to market instability.

The implications of the results include international portfolio management, currency derivatives pricing and hedging, risk management and market efficiency.

The findings contribute to a better understanding of the effects of senior official speech attributes on currency jumps in various economic states. The results raise questions about the speaker’s name, institution and position’s effectiveness in calming markets and reducing uncertainty.