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1 – 10 of 16Francisco Elíseo Fernandes Sanches, Marco Antonio Alves de Souza Junior, Flavio Rubens Massaro Junior, Rafael Povedano and Luiz Eduardo Gaio
Higher education institutions (HEIs) must take on a leadership role in building a sustainable world, given their responsibility for preparing future professionals and leaders…
Abstract
Purpose
Higher education institutions (HEIs) must take on a leadership role in building a sustainable world, given their responsibility for preparing future professionals and leaders worldwide and considering the role they provide to society. To accomplish this goal, HEIs need to holistically embody sustainability in everything they develop. This study aims to help HEIs in this purpose by developing a method to integrate sustainability into the strategic planning process in these institutions.
Design/methodology/approach
In the first stage, the method was developed based on papers selected through a systematic literature review. The proposed method was then applied in a Brazilian HEI to validate and adjust it.
Findings
A method that adopts a participatory process to integrate sustainability into HEIs’ strategic planning was proposed.
Practical implications
This study provides university leaders with a simple and practical method to aid with elaborating on strategic plans for holistic sustainability integration.
Originality/value
This study uniquely applied a framework called “HEIs sustainability action archetypes” as the foundation for selecting sustainable objectives, goals and actions to be integrated into these institutions’ strategic planning.
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Yu-Jen Chou, Ya-Hui Hsu and Yu-Han Chang
This research paper aims to illustrate that the new product communication effects of mental simulation (process-vs. outcome-focused) might depend on product attributes (typicality…
Abstract
Purpose
This research paper aims to illustrate that the new product communication effects of mental simulation (process-vs. outcome-focused) might depend on product attributes (typicality and benefits). Communication effects include ad attitudes and product attitudes in this study.
Design/methodology/approach
One 2 (mental simulation: process-focused vs. outcome-focused) x 2 (attribute typicality: high vs. low) x 2 (attribute benefits: hedonic vs. utilitarian) between-subjects experiment design was conducted. SPSS was used to do data analysis.
Findings
This article reveals that high (low) typicality of new attributes causes a process-focused (outcome-focused) simulation to lead to better consumer attitudes (i.e. ad attitude and product attitude). In addition, for a new hedonic attribute, a low typical attribute induces better consumer attitudes. Furthermore, there are interaction among mental simulation, product attribute typicality and benefits. These findings have important implications for academic developments and marketing management.
Originality/value
Compared with previous studies, this study is unique in several ways. First, enterprises often develop new products by introducing new product attributes (i.e. new features). Product attribute typicality is an interesting issue for new product design and communication. This research illustrates that the marketing communication effects of attribute typicality depends on attribute benefits and mental simulation. Second, the current research finds the new product attribute benefit (i.e. hedonic/utilitarian) play an important role and moderates the effects of mental simulation on consumer attitudes.
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Ragna Kemp Haraldsdottir, Fiorella Foscarini, Charles Jeurgens, Pekka Henttonen, Gillian Oliver, Seren Wendelken and Viviane Frings-Hessami
The purpose of this paper was to investigate how recordkeepers in Canada, Finland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Iceland and Italy experienced accomplishing their tasks from home…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper was to investigate how recordkeepers in Canada, Finland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Iceland and Italy experienced accomplishing their tasks from home over varying lengths of time during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
A multilingual survey including 44 questions was designed and administered to the six countries identified above in 2022. This research was preceded by an environmental scan looking at existing studies considering archival and records management responses to the pandemic.
Findings
The impact of working from home on recordkeeping and, more generally, work performance was perceived differently by the survey respondents depending on various factors. The study also identified a number of similarities across countries, such as an increased awareness of the importance of records management shared by organizational actors. Surprisingly, the pandemic did not appear to have a great impact on the perceived quality of records management.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study aiming to capture records professionals’ perceptions of their role while working from home during the pandemic.
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Mohamed Zaki Balboula and Eman Elsayed Elfar
This paper aims to investigate the relationship between audit partner perfectionism traits and audit quality in Egypt, emphasizing the mediating role of professional skepticism.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the relationship between audit partner perfectionism traits and audit quality in Egypt, emphasizing the mediating role of professional skepticism.
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed-methods approach was used, combining a questionnaire and scenario-based questions for audit partners with secondary data from audited financial statements. The relationships between study variables were tested using structural equation modeling.
Findings
Results denote a significant indirect effect between partner perfectionism traits and audit quality through their professional skepticism. Perfectionism has a significant positive impact on partner professional skepticism, and skepticism influences audit quality.
Practical implications
This study offers opportunities to enhance financial reporting quality, allowing investors to confidently allocate financial market resources. Audit firms can consider the personality traits of auditors in the selection process, team formation and designing training programs. Regulators can use these findings to consider the role of personality traits and attitudes in audit quality when developing regulations and quality assurance systems in Egypt.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no studies have examined the effect of partners’ perfectionism traits on professional skepticism and audit quality, especially in Egypt. By examining audit partners, who shape the tone at the top and are accountable for reputation, this study adds a novel dimension to understanding the impact of their qualities on audit outcomes. Moreover, combining survey and secondary data allows us to link these qualities with audit quality, objectively testing our hypotheses.
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This chapter discusses the extension of legal equality between male and female citizens in four states in North Africa – Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and Algeria – through one specific…
Abstract
This chapter discusses the extension of legal equality between male and female citizens in four states in North Africa – Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and Algeria – through one specific lens: A married woman's legal capacity to initiate and obtain divorce without the husband's consent. Building on the works of Stein Rokkan and Reinhard Bendix on the expansion of citizenship to the ‘lower classes’, it is argued that amendments in divorce law by introducing in-court divorce for women, in addition to out-of-court divorce, is a significant institutional change that extends legal equality between men and women. The introduction of in-court divorce expands female citizenship by bolstering woman's juridical autonomy and capacity in state law. Changes in divorce laws are thus part of state centralization by means of standardizing rules that regulate family law through public administrative institutions rather than religious organizations. Two questions are addressed: First, how did amendments in divorce laws occur after independence? Second, in which ways did women's bolstered legal capacity in divorce have a spill over effect on reforms in other patriarchal state laws? Based on observations on sequences of change in four states in North Africa, it is argued that amendments that equalize between men and women in divorce should be seen as a key driver for reforms in other state laws, that reduce legal inequality between male and female citizens. In all four states, women's citizenship was extended in nationality law and criminal law after amendments in divorce law gave women unilateral legal power to exit a marital relationship.
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Lütfi Sürücü, Halil Yıldız and Murat Sağbaş
This research aims to analyze the factors affecting the people's performance working in the health sector to improve the services the health sector provide to society and increase…
Abstract
Purpose
This research aims to analyze the factors affecting the people's performance working in the health sector to improve the services the health sector provide to society and increase the efficiency of their institutions.
Design/methodology/approach
Conceptual model covering paternalistic leadership, employee creativity and psychological safety as an intermediary role has been suggested. A questionnaire was applied to 600 employees of three hospitals in Izmir voluntarily and 531 questionnaire data were obtained to test the proposed model. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences-23 and Amos-18 were the statistical software used to analyze the data.
Findings
The results suggest that paternalistic leadership positively affects employee creativity and psychological safety plays a mediating role in this relationship. While the effects of paternalistic leadership on employee resourcefulness are readily available, paternalistic leadership's mechanisms need elucidation.
Originality/value
Previous studies have addressed issues, such as employees' job satisfaction and organizational commitment, covering Far East countries. Yet, the present research's findings enhance the cultural understanding of the conditions, where the paternalistic leader affects employee creativity. Moreover, leader affects must have managerial contributions to institutions.
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Brittany Beck, Melanie Moore Koskie and William Locander
This study aims to contribute to the ongoing discussion of how consumers approach shopping directly via social media by explicating decisions related to trust on social media and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to contribute to the ongoing discussion of how consumers approach shopping directly via social media by explicating decisions related to trust on social media and how various types of electronic word of mouth (eWOM; ratings and reviews, recommendations and referrals and social media communities) contribute to these decisions.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 198 respondents with experience shopping directly via social media were instructed to select the platform on which they had the most shopping experience (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, etc.) to answer relevant survey questions. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used for analyzing the results.
Findings
Findings reveal that eWOM provided by strong ties (recommendations and referrals; social media communities) is superior to weak ties (ratings and reviews). Surprisingly, ratings and reviews do not significantly relate to trust in the retailer, suggesting that this information may be necessary but not sufficient for trusting retailers on social media.
Originality/value
This research distinguishes trust decisions related to shopping on social media and clarifies how each type of eWOM uniquely influences trust in the retailer by using tie strength theory.
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Philippe Jacques Codjo Lassou, Matthew Sorola, Daniela Senkl, Sarah George Lauwo and Chelsea Masse
This paper aims to investigate the prevalence of corruption in Ghana to understand how and why it has turned public procurement into a mere money-making scheme instead of a means…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the prevalence of corruption in Ghana to understand how and why it has turned public procurement into a mere money-making scheme instead of a means to provide needed public goods and services.
Design/methodology/approach
The study focuses on Ghana as a case study and mobilizes the monetization of politics lenses. Data are collected via interviews with key officials across the procurement sector (including the government, donors and civil society), documents, documentaries and news articles.
Findings
The findings suggest that the increasing costs of elections and political financing coupled with the costs of vote-buying, which has become informally institutionalized, intensify corruption practices and, consequently, turns public procurement into a mere source of cash for political ends. Political appointments and legalized loopholes facilitate this by helping to nullify the safeguard accounting and other control institutions are designed to provide. Likewise, enduring poverty and rising inequality “force” citizens into a vote-buying culture which distorts democratic premises that may drive out unscrupulous politicians; thus, perpetuating capture schemes. Civil society's efforts to remedy these have had little success, and corruption and inequality remain rife.
Practical implications
The main practical implication of the study lies in the need for a gradual demonetization of elections, and the consideration of the fundamental function of public procurement as a policy instrument embedded in economic, social, cultural and environmental plans. Additionally, given the connectedness of the various corruption issues raised, a comprehensive system-based approach in dealing with them would be more effective than a piecemeal approach targeting each issue/problem in isolation.
Originality/value
While extant literature has examined the issue of endemic corruption in developing countries using state capture, few have attempted to explain why it remains enduring, particularly in public procurement. This study, therefore, contributes to the literature on corruption and state capture theoretically and empirically by drawing on monetization of politics from political science to explain why corruption and state capture endure in certain contexts (with Ghana as an illustrative example) which reduce public procurement to a cash-milking scheme.
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Irrespective of the importance of collective job crafting for team performance, its antecedents have not been fully comprehended. Drawing upon social cognitive theory, this study…
Abstract
Purpose
Irrespective of the importance of collective job crafting for team performance, its antecedents have not been fully comprehended. Drawing upon social cognitive theory, this study proposes that sales managers’ charismatic leadership interacts with collective proactive personality in predicting collective job crafting, which in turn influences sales teams’ customer relationship performance and financial performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 481 sales employees and 64 sales managers from 64 sales departments of tour companies. These multi-source data were analyzed through structural equation modeling.
Findings
The findings revealed that charismatic leadership was positively associated with sales teams’ collective job crafting, which was in turn positively related to sales teams’ customer relationship performance and financial performance. Collective proactive personality negatively moderated the impact of charismatic leadership on collective job crafting.
Originality/value
This study advances the extant knowledge by identifying the role of collective job crafting in translating charismatic leadership into sales teams’ performance.
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Clémence Demay and Mathilde Krähenbühl
This paper aims to explore how the argument of “eco-reproductive” concerns was mobilized in climate change trials in Switzerland. Looking at social movements' advantages and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore how the argument of “eco-reproductive” concerns was mobilized in climate change trials in Switzerland. Looking at social movements' advantages and constraints when having recourse to the law, the authors interrogate why the symbolism of reproduction and kinship represented a political opportunity to defend the activists in a judicial system where judging is seen as an apolitical act.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is grounded in legal research and research on social movements. While legal research focuses mainly on the study of legal and written sources, the authors used ethnography and conducted interviews to cross the perspectives of activists, their lawyers and judges.
Findings
In a context where positivist legal tradition remains strong, the “eco-reproductive” argument represented the advantage of being “apolitical,” thus audible in court. Used as socio-political tools, “eco-reproductive” concerns translated the activists' political claims into the legal arena. However, judges' conservative beliefs on family reinforced the depoliticization of activists' claims.
Originality/value
While research on “eco-reproductive” concerns has been significantly quantitative and exploratory, the authors look in depth at one case of application and highlight the limits of “eco-reproductive” concerns to appeal to decision-makers.
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