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1 – 10 of 291Hyrine Mueni Matheka, Ellen P.W.A. Jansen, Cor J.M. Suhre and Adriaan W.H. Hofman
Given declining tuition funds and government grants, Kenyan universities need to develop strategies, including increased research grants and collaborations, to diversify their…
Abstract
Purpose
Given declining tuition funds and government grants, Kenyan universities need to develop strategies, including increased research grants and collaborations, to diversify their income sources. Well-managed doctoral students can boost a university’s teaching and research outputs. However, numbers of students enrolled in doctoral programmes at Kenyan universities are low, and graduation rates and time-to-graduate statistics are disturbing. Research undertaken elsewhere underline the important role played by supervisors and peers in facilitating students’ sense of belonging and their success. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the influence of supervisory and peer support on PhD students’ sense of belonging and their success at Kenyan universities.
Design/methodology/approach
In this cross-sectional study, data were gathered through an online questionnaire from 614 students admitted to doctoral programmes at Kenyan universities between 2010 and 2018. We used multi-item scales to collect data on PhD students’ self-efficacy, supervisory and peer support and a sense of belonging.
Findings
Structural equation modelling results revealed that PhD students’ modes of study and self-efficacy were significantly associated with the quality of supervision, peer support and a sense of belonging. However, only age, a sense of belonging and the quality of supervision were directly linked to their success.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature on doctoral-level education, responding to the need for research on the influence of relationships with supervisors and peers on PhD students’ sense of belonging and their success, especially in developing countries.
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Laura Di Chiacchio, Eva Martínez-Caro, Juan Gabriel Cegarra-Navarro and Alexeis Garcia-Perez
This study aims to investigate the impact of the ethical management of data privacy on the overall reputation of businesses.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the impact of the ethical management of data privacy on the overall reputation of businesses.
Design/methodology/approach
A conceptual model was proposed and tested. Data were collected from 208 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the textile industry in Valencia, Spain using a survey instrument. Partial least squares (PLS) allowed for the analysis of the data collected.
Findings
The theoretical model explains 46.1% of the variation in the organisational reputation variable. The findings indicate that ethical data privacy has a beneficial effect on an organisation's reputation and eco-innovation. The findings also demonstrate how eco-innovation drives the development of new knowledge and green skills that, in turn, communicate to stakeholders a company's ethical commitment. These results should encourage SMEs to invest in data privacy in order to meet the needs of the SMEs' increasingly technology- and environment-sensitive stakeholders and to improve their reputation.
Originality/value
This study provides the first empirical evidence that ethical data privacy management has a positive impact on the reputation of firms. Furthermore, the originality of the research derives from the analysis of the results from an environmental perspective. Indeed, this study shows that effective data privacy management can indirectly support organisational reputation through eco-innovation and green skills.
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Vahagn Jerbashian and Montserrat Vilalta-Bufí
The authors analyzed the evolution of working from home (WFH) within industries in 12 European countries in the period 2008–2017 and studied its relationship with information and…
Abstract
Purpose
The authors analyzed the evolution of working from home (WFH) within industries in 12 European countries in the period 2008–2017 and studied its relationship with information and communication technologies (ICT).
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used data from the European Union Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS) to document the trends and levels of WFH within industries in 12 European countries. The authors further used the EU-KLEMS database and a difference-in-difference approach to study whether the fall in prices of ICT is associated with a higher share of employees who work from home in industries that depend more on ICT relative to industries that depend less.
Findings
The authors show that WFH has increased almost everywhere and that there is significant heterogeneity across industries. The authors provide evidence that the fall in prices of ICT is associated with a higher share of employees who work from home in industries that depend more on ICT relative to industries that depend less. This result also holds within age, gender and occupation groups. While the authors find no significant differences among gender and occupation groups, the positive association between the fall in ICT prices and WFH increases with age.
Originality/value
This paper has two main contributions: First, it reports that WFH has increased in European countries in the period 2008–2017. Second, it provides new explorations about the relationship between ICT and WFH by using the price variation of ICT.
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Muhammad Nurul Houqe, Habib Zaman Khan, Olayinka Moses and Arun Elias
The purpose of the study is to examine the impact of corporate reputation (hereafter CR) and the degree of economic development on firms’ cost of capital remains unresolved. This…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the study is to examine the impact of corporate reputation (hereafter CR) and the degree of economic development on firms’ cost of capital remains unresolved. This study addresses these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a global sample across 20 countries, the study investigates the discrete and joint effects of CR and jurisdictional economic development on the cost of equity (COE) and cost of debt (COD) capital. The analysis encompasses a dual data set, comprising 1,308 observations for COE and 1,223 observations for COD, allowing for a comprehensive exploration of these dynamics.
Findings
The findings indicate that CR leads to a reduction in the cost of capital for reputable firms. Nevertheless, the extent of this decrease varies per type of capital and firm’s reputation level and is contingent upon the economic development level within the firm’s jurisdiction. Particularly noteworthy is the moderating effect of economic development on CR, which shows that COE capital tends to be lower for reputable firms operating in economically developed jurisdictions. Albeit, this is not the case for COD capital for reputable firms in similarly developed jurisdictions.
Practical implications
This study illustrates that effective CR management, aimed at reducing the cost of capital, necessitates a combination of the firm’s unique competitive advantage and the economic development context of its jurisdiction to truly achieve its intended goal.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first global study to explore the impact of CR on both COE and COD capital. Furthermore, this study is primarily towards understanding the moderating role of economic development in the relationship between CR and cost of capital.
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Shalini Srivastava and Swati Dhir
This study aims to explore the dynamics of workplace ostracism and dehumanization behavior and its impact on employees’ psychological contract violation, their revenge intention…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the dynamics of workplace ostracism and dehumanization behavior and its impact on employees’ psychological contract violation, their revenge intention and psychological well-being.
Design/methodology/approach
The study has collected data from 329 IT sector employees working in the northern part of India using standard measures for various constructs utilized in the study. For the purpose of testing the proposed hypothesis, partial least square structural equation modeling is used.
Findings
The results show that all the hypotheses were supported, meaning employees experiencing ostracism and dehumanization at the workplace feel stressed and anxious and develop feelings of revenge, leading them to experience irrational feelings.
Practical implications
In the presence of workplace dehumanization and workplace ostracism, employees may experience stress, anxiety and depression. Managers must ensure a psychologically safe environment because if individuals experience ostracism or dehumanization at the workplace, they are going to affect their well-being through revenge intention behavior. Hence, it is important that managers should provide adequate resources to the employees so that they can feel psychologically safe in the workplace and hence can enhance psychological well-being.
Originality/value
This study is unique in terms of its contribution to the existing literature by understanding the nuances of workplace ostracism and dehumanization on employee’s well-being. The study also contributes to highlighting the advantages of using tools to establish psychological safety.
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Nima Ali and Juani Swart
The paper aims to investigate the dynamics of individuals' multiple commitments in the internship context by answering two questions: How do interns' commitment to different…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to investigate the dynamics of individuals' multiple commitments in the internship context by answering two questions: How do interns' commitment to different stakeholders change over time? And what are the reasons behind these changes?
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative longitudinal study was conducted of a hundred and three interviews with twenty interns in three professional service firms in the UK. The data were gathered via semi-structured interviews that took place on five occasions during the whole internship.
Findings
Individuals' decision to maintain or change their commitment depended on their motive to gain long-term benefits (future employment) or short-term benefits (completing an assignment). Therefore, they experienced different types of commitment dynamics, which were influenced by their intention to commit to the organization in the future.
Practical implications
This offers significant implications for attracting and employing interns, which directly affects talent employment. It also contributes to the contemporary work context, as the rise of temporary and cross-boundary settings would increase the complexity and dynamics of commitment.
Originality/value
Despite the predominant assumption that considers commitment as a stable bond, this research is one of the first to investigate the dynamics of multiple commitments. This contributes to the commitment theory by identifying the different types of commitment dynamics and the impact of individuals' intention to commit on the (in)stability of their commitment, which is absent from the existing literature.
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Aparna M. Varma and Rahul Sivarajan
To understand how Indian first-time mothers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) organisations returning to work cope with the perceived ideological psychological…
Abstract
Purpose
To understand how Indian first-time mothers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) organisations returning to work cope with the perceived ideological psychological contract breaches from a work–home resources perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper utilises interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) within the work–home resources (W-HR) model to analyse returning first-time mothers' lived experiences.
Findings
This study shows that significant life/work events such as childbirth/lack of career growth can trigger resource depletion at work and home and materialise in first-time mothers perceiving ideological psychological contract breaches at work. It has also been observed that key resource usage and macro support structures aid employees in attenuating work–home conflict by balancing contextual demands and personal resources. This study's participant accounts reveal that the recovery of volatile resources was possible by psychologically detaching and being silent.
Originality/value
The study offers a distinctive perspective by investigating the ideological PC breach experienced by first-time Indian mothers upon their organisational re-entry from a work–home resource model lens. Situated in a unique socio-cultural space and bringing forth the rich lived experiences of women working in the Indian STEM field, this paper explores how key resources shape the coping responses of first-time mothers in this context.
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Valentina Lazzarotti, Gloria Puliga, Raffaella Manzini, Salvatore Tallarico, Luisa Pellegrini, Mohammad H. Eslami, Muhammad Ismail and Harry Boer
The study aims to test the success of university-industry (U-I) collaboration in terms of innovation process efficiency. Then, this study explores the moderating role of a set of…
Abstract
Purpose
The study aims to test the success of university-industry (U-I) collaboration in terms of innovation process efficiency. Then, this study explores the moderating role of a set of organizational routines in the U-I relationship, which can help in overcoming the issues undermining the collaboration success.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on an international Open Innovation (OI) survey. The survey investigated the items to build the main variables of the conceptual framework, measured through seven-point Likert scales. Steps to ensure the reliability and validity of the variables were conducted. Then, hypotheses were tested with an ordinary least squares regression.
Findings
Results show that the higher the collaboration intensity (depth) with universities, the higher the innovation process efficiency. Furthermore, organizational routines aimed at improving firms' assimilation absorptive capacity further strengthen the positive effects of intensive collaboration on innovation process efficiency.
Practical implications
Findings indicate that R&D managers should strive to build deep collaborations with universities to enhance process efficiency and invest in the quality of these relationships. Managers should create and maintain an internal environment that further enhances the positive effects of intensive collaboration on innovation process efficiency.
Originality/value
The OI literature has not reached a shared view on the positive contribution of universities toward industrial firms' innovation performance. The study adopts a process-efficiency view, rarely used by other OI studies usually focused on output indicators; this study unpacks, respectively, the role of the intensity of collaboration and the organizational routines, thus disclosing the benefit of U-I collaboration on innovation efficiency.
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Kiran Patil, Vipul Garg, Janeth Gabaldon, Himali Patil, Suman Niranjan and Timothy Hawkins
This paper aims to examine how interfirm transactional and relational assets drive firm performance (FP) in digitally integrated supply chains.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine how interfirm transactional and relational assets drive firm performance (FP) in digitally integrated supply chains.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors combine the Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) and Relational Exchange Theory (RET) frameworks to hypothesize that FP will be a function of Asset Specificity (AS), Digital Technology Usage (DTU) and Collaborative Information Sharing (CIS). In addition, the authors hypothesize that Supply Chain Integration (SCI) will partially mediate the effect of DTU and fully mediate the impact of AS and CIS on FP. A cross-sectional survey of supply chain managers is used to test the hypotheses.
Findings
Findings indicate that specific investments in digitally integrated supply chains would increase FP. In addition, SCI fully mediates the relationships between AS and FP and CIS and FP, while SCI partially mediates the influence of DTU on FP.
Practical implications
Managers could strategically engage in the technologies that effectively fit within the firm’s supply chain strategies and seek to develop a pragmatic expertise that enables the effective use of technology in a comprehensive setting.
Originality/value
The study enriches the extant literature by incorporating TCE and RET as contradictory viewpoints on AS and investigating how transactional and relational assets affect FP in digitally integrated supply chains.
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This article advocates that privacy literacy research and praxis mobilize people toward changing the technological and social conditions that discipline subjects toward advancing…
Abstract
Purpose
This article advocates that privacy literacy research and praxis mobilize people toward changing the technological and social conditions that discipline subjects toward advancing institutional, rather than community, goals.
Design/methodology/approach
This article analyzes theory and prior work on datafication, privacy, data literacy, privacy literacy and critical literacy to provide a vision for future privacy literacy research and praxis.
Findings
This article (1) explains why privacy is a valuable rallying point around which people can resist datafication, (2) locates privacy literacy within data literacy, (3) identifies three ways that current research and praxis have conceptualized privacy literacy (i.e. as knowledge, as a process of critical thinking and as a practice of enacting information flows) and offers a shared purpose to animate privacy literacy research and praxis toward social change and (4) explains how critical literacy can help privacy literacy scholars and practitioners orient their research and praxis toward changing the conditions that create privacy concerns.
Originality/value
This article uniquely synthesizes existing scholarship on data literacy, privacy literacy and critical literacy to provide a vision for how privacy literacy research and praxis can go beyond improving individual understanding and toward enacting social change.
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