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1 – 10 of 10Richard Jaffu and Ismail Abdi Changalima
Human resource development (HRD) has been considered in enhancing organisational operations as human resources are vital for organisational performance. This study aims to examine…
Abstract
Purpose
Human resource development (HRD) has been considered in enhancing organisational operations as human resources are vital for organisational performance. This study aims to examine the role of HRD on the effectiveness of public procurement in Tanzania.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employed a cross-sectional research design under which data was collected from 168 procurement professionals in Dodoma city, Tanzania. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed to analyse the collected data and examine the structural relationships between HRD and the effectiveness of public procurement in Tanzania.
Findings
The findings revealed that all the variables of human resource development; career development, training and performance appraisal, are statistically significant and positively related to the effectiveness of public procurement. Therefore, the findings reveal that career development, training and performance appraisal as HRD practices play an important role in enhancing the effectiveness of public procurement in the surveyed public procuring organisations in Tanzania.
Research limitations/implications
This current study divides HRD into three main practices: career development, training and performance appraisal. This limits the study's applicability to other HRD practices that organisations may institutionalize to public procurement professionals who work in various public organisations in Tanzania.
Originality/value
This paper integrates the concept of HRD and public procurement effectiveness. Therefore, the study adds value to the literature on human resource management and public procurement management.
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Franca Cantoni, Silvia Platoni and Roberta Virtuani
Frequently the universities' Placement Service is based on the student's hard profile at the expense of soft traits. On the other side, the “person–organization fit” axiom…
Abstract
Purpose
Frequently the universities' Placement Service is based on the student's hard profile at the expense of soft traits. On the other side, the “person–organization fit” axiom suggests firms are looking for profiles with specific soft skills to face the increasing level of environmental turbulence. This research aims to understand if high-resilience students also have high academic achievements and how the three components of resilience (emotional intelligence, positive thinking, planfulness) can have different impact on individual performances.
Design/methodology/approach
The research was conducted on students enrolled on different courses of studies and years in an Economics and Law faculty. A questionnaire was administered during the first exam session (ante-Covid) and the second and third exam sessions (post-Covid). This questionnaire consists of 84 questions related to planfulness, emotional intelligence and positive thinking, whose combination can be considered a measure of resilience. In fact, the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was carried to identify these three new variables (the components) based on the 84 initial ones. Finally, an ordered logit model was implemented to verify whether, and in what direction, planfulness, emotional intelligence, positive thinking and Covid 19 (the independent variables) affected the students' performance (the dependent one).
Findings
While planfulness positively affected academic performance, emotional intelligence affected it negatively. The impact of positive thinking and Covid was not significant, and thus what emerged from the preliminary analysis of the grades is not confirmed.
Research limitations/implications
This is a case study of a university experience that is paying great care in preparing students to satisfy the firms' work demands. To confirm and refine results the sample will be expanded to other faculties and other life/soft skills will be investigated.
Practical implications
This soft trait approach—that studies how various measures of soft skills are related to course grades—has a two-fold significance by crafting universities' placement activities and facilitating firms' onboarding.
Social implications
This is a case study of a university experience; a university that is paying great attention to preparing students ready to satisfy the firms' work demands but also citizens capable of supporting the growth of their nation and society in general.
Originality/value
The research can be considered a first step towards the inclusion of the formal evaluation of the students' life skills in their academic path, creating a link with their achievements.
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Celina Sołek-Borowska and Joanna Tabor-Błażewicz
Despite more than 50 years of research into gender and work, the impact of women occupying managerial positions persists to be under-represented in mainstream human resource…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite more than 50 years of research into gender and work, the impact of women occupying managerial positions persists to be under-represented in mainstream human resource management (HRM) literature. The purpose of this article is to identify and explore the perceptions of women who decided to choose their career path either in IT or HR positions to explore their motivation, career strategies and success factors.
Design/methodology/approach
Twenty semi-structured interviews were conducted with women occupying either IT or HR managerial positions. The study included two datasets: (1) women representing managerial positions in IT and (2) women representing managerial positions in HR.
Findings
Women holding HR managerial positions took action to achieve the intended position in their dream industry since their studies. On the contrary, the choice of the IT industry was one undertaken by candidates with no previous IT experience. Because the IT sector is dominated by men, women in these positions still had to prove their competences.
Research limitations/implications
The research showed that women cannot be ignored in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) industry, and they prove a valuable resource for managerial positions in IT or HR departments in many sectors.
Originality/value
The research underpinned a new boundaryless career model for both HR and IT positions.
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Optimal application and commitment toward financial management practices enhance organization performance. This study aims to assess the influence of financial management…
Abstract
Purpose
Optimal application and commitment toward financial management practices enhance organization performance. This study aims to assess the influence of financial management practices on organizational performance of small- and medium-scale enterprises.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 45 small-sized and 72 medium-sized firms. Data supported the hypothesized relationships. Construct reliability and validity were established through confirmatory factor analysis. The conceptual model and hypotheses were evaluated by using structural equation modeling.
Findings
The results indicate that working capital significantly influenced organizational performance. Capital budget management significantly influenced organizational performance. A non-significant influence of asset management on organizational performance was observed.
Research limitations/implications
The generalizability of the findings will be constrained due to the research’s SMEs focus and cross-sectional data.
Practical implications
The study’s findings will serve as valuable pointers for stakeholders and decision-makers of SMEs in the development of well-articulated and proactive financial management systems to ensure competitiveness, sustainability, viability and financial competences.
Originality/value
The study adds to the corpus of literature by evidencing empirically that financial management practices significantly influenced SMEs’ performance.
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The paper provides a detailed historical account of Douglass C. North's early intellectual contributions and analytical developments in pursuing a Grand Theory for why some…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper provides a detailed historical account of Douglass C. North's early intellectual contributions and analytical developments in pursuing a Grand Theory for why some countries are rich and others poor.
Design/methodology/approach
The author approaches the discussion using a theoretical and historical reconstruction based on published and unpublished materials.
Findings
The systematic, continuous and profound attempt to answer the Smithian social coordination problem shaped North's journey from being a young serious Marxist to becoming one of the founders of New Institutional Economics. In the process, he was converted in the early 1950s into a rigid neoclassical economist, being one of the leaders in promoting New Economic History. The success of the cliometric revolution exposed the frailties of the movement itself, namely, the limitations of neoclassical economic theory to explain economic growth and social change. Incorporating transaction costs, the institutional framework in which property rights and contracts are measured, defined and enforced assumes a prominent role in explaining economic performance.
Originality/value
In the early 1970s, North adopted a naive theory of institutions and property rights still grounded in neoclassical assumptions. Institutional and organizational analysis is modeled as a social maximizing efficient equilibrium outcome. However, the increasing tension between the neoclassical theoretical apparatus and its failure to account for contrasting political and institutional structures, diverging economic paths and social change propelled the modification of its assumptions and progressive conceptual innovation. In the later 1970s and early 1980s, North abandoned the efficiency view and gradually became more critical of the objective rationality postulate. In this intellectual movement, North's avant-garde research program contributed significantly to the creation of New Institutional Economics.
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Agartha Quayson, Kassimu Issau, Robert Ipiin Gnankob and Samira Seidu
The study investigated the effect of marketing communications’ dimensions on brand loyalty in the banking sector.
Abstract
Purpose
The study investigated the effect of marketing communications’ dimensions on brand loyalty in the banking sector.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopted the quantitative research approach which relied on the explanatory design due to the nature of the hypotheses tested. The convenience sampling technique was used to pull 377 customers of a branch of a commercial bank in Ghana. Furthermore, the PLS-SEM technique was deployed to assess the measurement model and test the research hypotheses.
Findings
Results show that the following dimensions of marketing communications are significant predictors of brand loyalty: direct marketing, public relations and sales promotion. The exception is advertising, which had an inverse relation with brand loyalty.
Practical implications
The results provide significant pointers to banks’ management that they should deploy a variety of marketing communication channels other than intensive advertising to reach and persuade customers.
Originality/value
The study illustrates the latest effort to extensively provide insights into how commercial banks could leverage marketing communication tools to sustain loyalty in an emerging economy that is intensively competitive.
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Diego Monferrer Tirado, Lidia Vidal-Meliá, John Cardiff and Keith Quille
This research aims to determine to what extent corporate social responsibility (CSR) actions developed by bank entities in Spain improve the vulnerable customers' emotions and…
Abstract
Purpose
This research aims to determine to what extent corporate social responsibility (CSR) actions developed by bank entities in Spain improve the vulnerable customers' emotions and quality perception of the banking service. Consequently, this increases the quality of their relationship regarding satisfaction, trust and engagement.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from 734 vulnerable banking customers were analyzed through structural equations modeling (EQS 6.2) to test the relationships of the proposed variables.
Findings
Vulnerable customers' emotional disposition exerts a strong influence on their perceived service quality. The antecedent effect is concentrated primarily on the CSR towards the client, with a residual secondary weight on the CSR towards society. These positive service emotions are determinants of the outcome quality perceived by vulnerable customers, directly in terms of higher satisfaction and trust and indirectly through engagement.
Practical implications
This research contributes to understanding how financial service providers should adapt to the specific characteristics and needs of vulnerable clients by adopting a strategy of approach, personalization and humanization of the service that seems to move away from the actions implemented by the banking industry in recent years.
Originality/value
This study has adopted a theoretical and empirical perspective on the impact of CSR on service emotions and outcome quality of vulnerable banking customers. Moreover, banks can adopt a dual conception of CSR: a macro and external scope toward society and a micro and internal scope toward customers.
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Elvira К. Buitek, Saule A. Kaliyeva, Ardak N. Turginbayeva, Marziya K. Meldakhanova and Aijaz A. Shaikh
Drawing on the contemporary literature and the theory of employer attractiveness, the authors aimed to examine key antecedents and consequences of employer attractiveness by…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on the contemporary literature and the theory of employer attractiveness, the authors aimed to examine key antecedents and consequences of employer attractiveness by proposing functional hypotheses and relationships between some endogenous variables.
Design/methodology/approach
Using the quota-cum-purposive sampling method, the unit of analysis selected for this study was millennials aged 18–35 years and working in the hospitality, travel, tourism and leisure (HTTL) sectors for the last two years. A total of 218 responses were collected in three months (June–August 2022). The data were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).
Findings
For young employees, company recruitment behaviour, company image and source credibility are significantly and directly related to company attractiveness. The relationship between company image and employee word of mouth (WOM) was significantly positive. Company recruitment behaviour was found to significantly influence employee commitment. Company attractiveness was found to be directly related to young employees' WOM about the company and commitment to it.
Originality/value
The study establishes the significance of company attractiveness because a company's success largely depends on the company's ability to attract and retain a talented and skilled workforce. Moreover, the present study provides much-needed insights to policymakers and regulators that can help the policymakers define and implement favourable policies to promote and protect the country's job market and offer directions to youth employment.
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The purpose of this study is to survey the landscape of online collections of digital games.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to survey the landscape of online collections of digital games.
Design/methodology/approach
First, the study identifies existing sites hosting collections and criteria that make a collection valuable for research, then it reports on sites that fit the criteria and analyzes trends.
Findings
Most sites provide simple binary downloads, but some choose encapsulation. Common metadata terms consistently include genre, year of release and publisher. Most sites claim the right to provide their collections as “abandonware,” but remove games if they are asked to.
Research limitations/implications
This study was conducted using a very limited subcategory of digital games, which could be expanded in other studies. Future research may require a multilingual team to account for collections based in non–English-speaking countries. Direct communication with sites’ management may be valuable in the future as well, but was not conducted in this study.
Practical implications
The study identifies practices that have developed organically in this field without any guiding standards. Understanding these may aid in Humanities research into digital games, as well as potential collection development in the future.
Social implications
Digital games are increasingly important as cultural artifacts, and there is a growing effort to preserve them for the future, but there are no standards for collecting and providing them. Understanding how this is currently done can help in providing access into the future for both casual and analytical use.
Originality/value
While game preservation is a growing and active field of research, no study has been published in recent years on this particular subject. It will be valuable for the development of future collections and for research using current ones.
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Elena Barbierato, Danio Berti, Silvia Ranfagni, Luis Hernández-Álvarez and Iacopo Bernetti
The main purpose of this study is to analyze how consumers’ visual attention to wine label design correlates with their preferences. Accordingly, this study uses quantitative…
Abstract
Purpose
The main purpose of this study is to analyze how consumers’ visual attention to wine label design correlates with their preferences. Accordingly, this study uses quantitative eye-tracking metrics to understand which design proposal has greater visual salience. A more specific objective was to assess which design proposal was preferred to be marketed.
Design/methodology/approach
The experiment involved evaluating of three different labeling proposals of an Italian winery. Infrared eye-tracking was used to measure implicit eye movements on the three bottles displayed, simultaneously, on a computer screen. A generalized linear model was used to test how consumers' visual attention to wine label design correlated with their preferences.
Findings
The design proposals were evaluated significantly differently, with one set being preferred. In general, a strong positive relationship was found between pausing to peruse a specific design proposal and making an explicit choice of the same bottle.
Research limitations/implications
The main limitation of the experiment concerns the sample interviewed. As the sample is homogeneous, the results may not be generalizable to other segments. Furthermore, the addition of electroencephalographic devices that monitor brain activity could provide crucial information for understanding consumer behavior during the purchase decision-making process.
Practical implications
Eye-tracking methods could be useful for designers and wine producers during the evaluation process of design projects.
Originality/value
The use of eye-tracking for evaluating design proposals before placing a product on the market is relatively novel. This method provides objective, quantitative and predictive information on consumer preferences contributing guidelines to designers and marketers during the product conception phase.
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