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This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

SMEs in Canada account for around 90% of private sector jobs, and yet they are unable to invest in upskilling to counter the pervasive skilled labor shortages hitting the economy.

The briefing saves busy executives, strategists and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

The purpose of this study is to investigate manufacturing industry leaders’ perspectives on the prevailing skills gap in the current Illinois workforce. The insights gained hold significant importance for the emerging generation of workers, helping them discern the essential proficiencies and plan their educational and career paths in response.

Guided by Becker’s (1962) human capital theory (HCT) framework, a qualitative study was conducted to identify the skills gap and explore the perspectives of manufacturing industry leaders. Fourteen industry leaders participated in this study, representing various occupational industries.

The findings underscore the prominence of the skills gap as perceived by manufacturing industry leaders, with notable aspects including limited durable skills and difficulty transitioning from content-based knowledge to practical skills.

The findings of this study can offer insights to researchers, scholars and practitioners in the field of human resource development, as well as to leaders in the manufacturing industry who aim to address the skills gap. Furthermore, this research can inform policy decisions and assist higher education institutions in preparing students for careers in the industry.

The South African construction industry (SACI) is a huge employer of labour as the industry depends mostly on human resources to carry out its activities. However, the industry has also been noted for its poor workforce management and lack of attention to human resource management (HRM) issues. Therefore, this study aims to assess the challenges facing the effective management of the construction workforce in South Africa with a view to improving HRM activities in the industry and improve overall service delivery through an effectively managed workforce.

A pragmatic philosophical view using a mixed-method research design was adopted. The study’s qualitative strand was achieved through a Delphi, whilst the quantitative strand was achieved through a questionnaire survey. In addition, descriptive and inferential statistics such as mean item score, Kruskal-Wallis H-test, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were adopted for data analysis.

With high reliability, construct validity and model fit indices, the study found that for effective HRM to be attained within construction organisations, careful attention must be given to issues surrounding the nature of the industry, unhealthy working environment, employee-related issues, diversity and working condition in the industry.

Whilst several studies have been conducted on HRM, there is a lack of studies on the major challenges facing effective HRM in the SACI. The findings also offer future research studies a good theoretical platform to build upon.

The author proposed a mobile learning model of pervasive animated games which allows college students to learn via games accessed through a smartphone. It can develop the process of field observation and self-reflection to enhance learning effectiveness, and the motivation, and attitude of students towards learning.

The author proposed a model for teaching via pervasive animated games. The author used SPSS software and Pearson's correlation coefficients to explore different mobile learning strategies and their relationship with learning attitudes and achievement. Participants were vocational technology college students, who each experienced animated games in individual and group learning settings.

The results found that the learning performance of students in the individual learning group was better than that of the group learning group. A higher level of digital experience was associated with better learning performance, and a more positive attitude towards using mobile phones was associated with better learning performance.

The learning method still has its limitations, the learner's digital information level, learning mode, learning attitudes will have an impact on the student playing teaching pervasive animation games. Therefore, improving student information level is one of the important topics of teaching pervasive animation games and mobile learning.

The author proposed a mobile learning strategy based on pervasive animated games. The result in the strategy of mobile learning shows that the level of students' digital experience and the overall design of animated games are important criteria for successful implementation.

Brain-drain insurgency has become pervasive amongst professionals and the last option for everyone in the country to realise a sustainable quality of work-life (QWL). All youths now in the country have perceived migrating to the international workspace as a noble idea. This study investigates the incidence of brain-drain and QWL amongst academics in Nigerian universities.

To sparkle a clearer understanding concerning factors preventing the QWL amongst Nigeria's lecturers, this study utilised a cross-sectional research design to survey the participants across all departments in federal institutions through an explanatory research approach. This study applied an array of adapted scales to evaluate members of academic staff track of what provoked the incidence of brain-drain amongst Nigerian lecturers and possible influence on their QWL. The study surveyed 431 members of academic staff in Nigerian universities to collect useful data and employed a structural equation model (SEM) to analyse the obtained data.

The outcome of this study highlights that there is a horrible condition of service amongst Nigerian lecturers, a poor compensation system, poor academic research funding and lack of autonomy are bane to the QWL experienced in Nigerian tertiary institutions today. This study indicates that poor staff development and inadequate university funding are part of the justification that provoked brain-drain insurgence, and allowed the government to lose their skilled and competent egg-heads in the university to other foreign nations of the world.

This study demonstrated that brain-drain has become part of Nigeria's national life given that all professionals are seeking better life where their skills, competence and energy would be valued. Brain-drain was not common until these days amongst academics and fewer studies were noted but this study showed a novel paradigm regarding the QWL and brain-drain trajectory.

Cyber security has never been more important than it is today in an ever more connected and pervasive digital world. However, frequently reported shortages of suitably skilled and trained information system (IS)/cyber security professionals elevate the importance of delivering effective Security Education,Training and Awareness (SETA) programmes within organisations. Therefore, the purpose of this study is the questionable effectiveness of SETA programmes at changing employee behaviour and an absence of empirical studies on the critical success factors (CSFs) for SETA programme effectiveness.

This exploratory study follows a three-stage research design to give voice to practitioners with SETA programme expertise. Data is gathered in Stage 1 using semi-structured interviews with 20 key informants (the emergence of the CSFs), in Stage 2 from 65 respondents to a short online survey (the ranking of the CSFs) and in Stage 3 using semi-structured interviews with nine IS/cyber security practitioners (the emergence of the guiding principles). Using a multi-stage research design allows the authors to propose and evaluate the 11 CSFs for SETA programme effectiveness.

This study conducted a mean score analysis to evaluate the level of importance of each CSF within two independent groups of IS/cyber security professionals. This multi-stage analysis produces a ranked list of 11 CSFs for SETA programme effectiveness, while the difference in the rankings leads to the emergence of five CSF-specific guiding principles (to increase the likelihood of delivering an effective SETA programme within an organisational context). This analysis also reveals that most of the contradictions/differences in CSF rankings between IS/cyber security practitioners are linked to the design phase of the SETA programme life cycle. While two CSFs, “maintain quarterly evaluation of employee performance” (CSF-DS6) and “build security awareness campaigns” (CSF-EV1), represent the most significant contradiction in this study.

The 11 CSFs for SETA programme effectiveness, along with the five CSF-specific guiding principles, provide a greater depth of knowledge contributing to both theory and practice and lays the foundation for future studies. Therefore, the outputs of this study provide valuable insights on the areas that practice needs to get right to deliver effective SETA programmes.

This special issue explores how marketing thought and practice have contributed to systemic racism but could alleviate racially insensitive and biased practices. An introductory historical overview briefly discusses coloniality, capitalism, eugenics, modernism, transhumanism, neo-liberalism, and liquid racism. Then, the special issue articles on colonial-based commodity racism, racial beauty imagery, implicit racial bias, linguistic racism and racial imagery in ads are introduced.

The historical introduction is grounded in a review of relevant literature.

Anti-racism efforts must tackle the intersection between neo-liberalism and racial injustice, the “raceless state” myth should be re-addressed, and cultural pedagogy’s role in normalizing racism should be investigated.

To stop perpetuating raced markets, educators should mainstream anti-racism and marketing. Commodity racism provides a historical and contemporary window into university-taught marketing skills.

Anti-racism efforts must recognize neo-liberalism’s pervasive role in normalizing raced markets and reject conventional wisdom about a raceless cultural pedagogy, especially with the emergence of platform economies.

Little previous research has tackled the history of commodity racism, white privilege, white ideology, and instituting teaching practices sensitive to minority group experiences.

Skills development for business students is increasingly becoming more important in business education and the workplace. In this paper, students’ research skills are examined. The purpose of this paper is to identify some of the issues and challenges students face in developing research skills and how these can be addressed.

The study combines external marker evaluation and content analysis to evaluate one hundred 2,000-word essays and identify issues and challenges associated with students’ development of research skills.

Results show that the essays rate well in collecting and using sources and summarising key topics but miss on integrating sources in writing and inconsistency in citations and referencing.

One of the paper’s limitations is using a sample from a single course in a business school in Australia. Nonetheless, the sampled essays represent similar writing tasks elsewhere that require students to display research skills.

Some implications for business and higher education are offered, including suggestions to address the issues and challenges raised in business education. For example, academics are encouraged to communicate clear expectations for writing tasks, provide support and show exemplars of business writing that incorporates practical research skills.

Business students who develop effective research skills contribute to society by developing skills in effectively searching and evaluating information. This ensures business graduates in industry workplaces reach considered conclusions before making recommendations that could impact people’s lives.

The study is original in its approach to investigating the nuances of research skills deficiencies by using external expert examination combined with content analysis.

While current scholarship on innovation typically examines its antecedents, the purpose of this paper is to provide a more complete account by advocating for social impacts as a critical component of the sociological study of innovation.

This study adopts a conceptual approach to illustrate the ways in which innovation may generate unequitable outcomes. The authors illustrate the purpose of the paper by discussing strategically selected examples that are intended to reflect prominent themes and topics in the relevant literature.

The analysis suggests that while innovation yields many positive benefits, pervasive narratives about its virtues can be overstated when, in fact, innovation may generate adverse effects for particular social groups by reproducing or exacerbating inequality. The authors provide a more complete account of innovation by naming social impacts as a critical component of its sociological study and discussing examples that illustrate how innovation can produce disadvantageous effects by race, gender and social class. The authors move forward the discussion of social impacts by elaborating conditions in which innovation is likely to reproduce the status quo as well as ameliorate negative impacts.

While many studies have explained the conditions that foster innovation, this study pushes the boundaries of the study of innovation – a timely topic for practitioners and scholars in the fields of not only sociology, but management, education and public policy. Accordingly, we move forward the discussion of the social impacts of innovation by identifying the ways in which innovation is likely to reproduce structural inequalities.

The library and information science (LIS) profession experienced drastic changes in its job requirements due to emerging digital scholarship trends, especially the growth of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). As a result, there is a discrepancy between the job market and the LIS curriculum. This study addresses this gap by looking into incorporating digital scholarship into the LIS school curricula in South Africa. This may have implications for other contexts as well, because digital scholarship is becoming pervasive.

The study adopted a constructivist paradigm using a qualitative approach and a multiple case study design. Primary data using semi-structured interviews were collected from 10 academics at LIS schools and 10 librarians from both academic and special research council libraries in South Africa.

The study revealed that LIS schools did not have content on digital scholarship such as research data management (RDM), digitisation, metadata standards, open access, institutional repositories and other related content. Stakeholders who needed to be consulted included librarians, information technology (IT) and information and communication technology (ICT) specialists, computer scientists, humanists, the South Africa Qualifications Authority (SAQA) and Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) and LIS professional bodies. There were gaps and redundancies in the curriculum as far as digital scholarship was concerned. Digital scholarship presented opportunities for librarians and academics to acquire emerging jobs and to collaborate more in the digital space.

The article advances knowledge on the importance of incorporating digital scholarship in the LIS curriculum in South Africa. Furthermore, it provides guidance regarding stakeholders to be consulted when incorporating content into the LIS curriculum with the intention of closing the gaps and curbing or removing discrepancies between job requirements and graduates’ skills and competencies.