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1 – 10 of 126Work-based learning is critical for enhancing employees’ skills and contributing to the firm’s performance. This paper aims to establish the effects of needs assessment on the…
Abstract
Purpose
Work-based learning is critical for enhancing employees’ skills and contributing to the firm’s performance. This paper aims to establish the effects of needs assessment on the relationship between training intensity as part of learning and how employees’ skills are reflected in firm performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper used the World Bank Tanzania Employees Skills Survey (TESS) dataset, which contains 424 firms. This paper estimated the moderated mediation model through partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) and employed the index of moderated mediation to determine if the model was correctly specified.
Findings
The results show that among three skills, i.e. technical, interpersonal/communication and work ethic skills, only the level of technical skills mediated the relationship between training and the firm’s performance. The index of moderated mediation suggests a threshold point for the firm’s training needs, above which the indirect effect of training on performance through technical skills starts to decrease. The negative correlation between the firm’s training needs and the indirect effect suggests that employees’ essential human capital qualities, viewed from the angle of their training needs, are among the key factors for executing effective training.
Research limitations/implications
This paper’s conceptual model is limited because it does not incorporate an education variable for the trained employees. In addition, it only conceptualized the perceived most important skills of interpersonal communication, technical skills and work ethic, despite there being other skills that could have been considered. Moreover, the data only measured the present skill level at three on the Likert scale, providing limited room for skill level variance.
Practical implications
Those who decide which training programme deserves priority given limited resources and the firm’s goals need to understand that training is an addition to what their employees already have and, thus, should make extra efforts to equip them with more knowledge relating to their assignments. Moreover, this understanding should extend to the employees themselves.
Originality/value
The paper introduced and showed the necessity of training needs assessment to increase the value of training in enhancing the firm’s performance. We propose a model for assessing training intensity through process analysis. The respective model depicts a threshold point for the firm’s training needs, below which the training will work.
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Afshin Omidi, Cinzia Dal Zotto and Robert G. Picard
Tracing audience preferences via audience analytics software has become a vital strategy for many news organizations to ensure their competitiveness in media markets. Extant…
Abstract
Purpose
Tracing audience preferences via audience analytics software has become a vital strategy for many news organizations to ensure their competitiveness in media markets. Extant research also confirms the growing presence of these tools in digital news work in recent years across many local and international news media. However, little is understood about the analytics-driven tensions emerging among journalists and media managers. This paper aims to address this gap by drawing on the labor process theory, which critically analyzes labor and workplace transformations under capitalism.
Design/methodology/approach
The present study employs an interview-based qualitative methodology to deeply understand the factors at the base of the emerging tensions between news workers and managers brought about by audience metrics tools.
Findings
Results show how some perceptions, activities and contextual triggers related to analytics could make relationships between workers and managers problematic. The pressures felt by some journalists stemmed from the way their media managers introduced, interpreted, communicated and applied analytics in the workplace, which were not tied to the quality and learning goals related to journalists’ aspirations. As our evidence suggests, the analytics-induced tensions among news workers were rather an outcome of managerial deficits than of systematic plans to exploit journalists.
Originality/value
By identifying the nature of fundamental analytics-driven tensions in newsrooms, this paper contributes to our understanding of how media managers can embrace more effective approaches toward audience analytics, workforce and organizational performance.
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Julie Nichols, Jeffrey Newchurch, Robert Rigney, Tinesha Miller and Bonita Sansbury
This chapter came about, after five years of working with the Ngadjuri community on speculative student cultural centre designs. Ideation for those conversations and studio-based…
Abstract
This chapter came about, after five years of working with the Ngadjuri community on speculative student cultural centre designs. Ideation for those conversations and studio-based interactions, in addition to time and cultural tours spent on Country, revealed a variety of opinions and hopes that exist within the Ngadjuri community for a place to celebrate their cultural heritage. This heritage has an incredible history, and the idea of a cultural centre has been topical since the late Uncle Vince Copley Senior worked with other Ngadjuri community members such as Robert Rigney, on Country and in an advocacy role for Ngadjuri more than 30 years ago. This series of yarnings from a two-part transcription process re-awakens those desires of Elders now passed. The transcriptions are complemented with literature around yarning as a research methodology that delivers current, immediate, and insightful personal thoughts, although only as personal as the lead yarner wishes to share. In addition, the literature contextualises the key themes of which the yarnings divulge. Research has indicated how yarning interactions and interrelationships create a unique dynamic between the researcher and the community members. It is these rich experiences where knowledge is shared in a two-way exchange that is noteworthy for the galleries, libraries, archives, and museums [GLAM] sector. GLAM sector priorities must implement policy to pursue future Indigenisation of their epistemological methods and ontological systems. To address any future data curation of Ngadjuri cultural heritage materials on Country or in GLAM, hearing the personal stories and desires seemed timely and necessary.
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Hammadallah Al-Husban and Robert M. Yawson
This study investigates the impact of organizational ambidexterity on employee performance within Jordanian clearance companies, focusing on the mediating role of organizational…
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigates the impact of organizational ambidexterity on employee performance within Jordanian clearance companies, focusing on the mediating role of organizational learning. This research aims to explore how the dimensions of exploration and exploitation influence performance outcomes, including effectiveness and growth.
Design/methodology/approach
Using analytical descriptive research, this study uses SMART-PLS 4 for hypothesis testing and mediation analysis. A meticulously developed questionnaire, grounded in scholarly literature and vetted by experts, was distributed to 230 employees across the Jordanian clearance industry, achieving a 91.3% response rate.
Findings
This study found that companies do better when they effectively explore and exploit, especially if they also focus on learning and adapting. This insight is particularly useful for those in the human resource development and management fields who aim to boost employee performance and, ultimately, the success of their organizations. The findings reveal a significant indirect effect of organizational ambidexterity on performance through organizational learning. Ambidexterity explained 55.6% of the variance in organizational learning, and subsequently, organizational learning accounted for 47.4% of performance variance. The total performance variance was 81.8%, indicating a strong relationship between the constructs.
Research limitations/implications
This study’s scope is limited to the Jordanian clearance industry, suggesting the need for further research across different contexts and industries. The reliance on self-reported data may introduce bias, warranting future use of mixed methods for a more comprehensive understanding.
Practical implications
The findings underscore the importance of fostering organizational learning as a mediator between ambidexterity and performance. Companies should invest in strategies that enhance both exploratory and exploitative activities, leveraging organizational learning to improve performance outcomes.
Social implications
By highlighting the role of organizational learning in mediating the relationship between ambidexterity and performance, this research suggests pathways for businesses to contribute to economic growth and employee development within the Jordanian context and potentially beyond.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the field by examining the underexplored context of the Jordanian customs clearance industry and using a robust methodological framework to assess the relationship between organizational ambidexterity, learning and performance. It provides empirical evidence supporting the significant impact of balanced competency configurations on performance outcomes.
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Andreea Gheorghe, Petru Lucian Curșeu and Oana C. Fodor
This study aims to explore the role of team personality and leader’s humor style on the use of humor in group communication and the extent to which group humor mediates the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the role of team personality and leader’s humor style on the use of humor in group communication and the extent to which group humor mediates the association between team personality on the one hand, psychological safety, collective emotional intelligence and group satisfaction on the other hand.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used a survey to collect data from 304 employees nested in 83 groups working in organizations from various sectors in Romania.
Findings
The study results show that extraversion is positively associated with group affiliative humor, while neuroticism has a positive association with group aggressive humor. The leader’s affiliative humor style had a significant positive effect on group affiliative humor, while the effect of leader’s aggressive humor style on the use of aggressive humor in groups was not significant. Furthermore, the authors examined the mediation role of group humor in the relationship between team personality and team emergent states and satisfaction. The authors found that group aggressive humor mediates the association between neuroticism and group emotional intelligence, psychological safety and satisfaction, while affiliative humor mediates the association between extraversion and emotional intelligence and team satisfaction.
Originality/value
The study reports one of the first attempts to explore the multilevel interplay of team personality and humor in groups as they relate to emergent states.
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Anjali Tiwari, Saleena Khan, Renju Chandran and Alok Tewari
This study dwells into the crucial aspects of gig workers' jobs that are absent, with specific focus on the work life of food delivery workers (FDWs) and how it impacts their work…
Abstract
Purpose
This study dwells into the crucial aspects of gig workers' jobs that are absent, with specific focus on the work life of food delivery workers (FDWs) and how it impacts their work happiness.
Design/methodology/approach
To create a conceptual model, 21 delivery workers were first interviewed, and the data gathered were scrutinized. Subsequently, a questionnaire was sent to 493 delivery partners, probing about their opinions of work factors that could affect their level of happiness. The collected data were put to study by the authors using AMOS and SPSS.
Findings
Five missing work components were revealed by qualitative investigation. The absence of voice, recognition, career growth, work satisfaction, and dignity at work contributed to unhappiness of the workers. The qualitative analysis was supported by quantitative findings. Additionally, company policy moderated the relationship between absence of voice, absence of career growth, absence of job satisfaction and absence of work happiness.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies using a mixed-method approach to identify factors contributing to the unhappiness of FDWs in work. The originality of this study also lies in establishing the moderating influence of company policy on the relationship between the absence of voice, absence of career growth, absence of work satisfaction and absence of workplace happiness among the workers.
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Matthew D. Roberts, Matthew A. Douglas and Robert E. Overstreet
To investigate the influence of logistics and transportation workers’ perceptions of their management’s simultaneous safety and operations focus (or lack thereof) on related…
Abstract
Purpose
To investigate the influence of logistics and transportation workers’ perceptions of their management’s simultaneous safety and operations focus (or lack thereof) on related worker safety and operational perceptions and behaviors.
Design/methodology/approach
This multi-method research consisted of two studies. Study 1 aimed to establish correlational relationships by evaluating the impact of individual-level worker perceptions of operationally focused routines (as a moderator) on the relationship between worker perceptions of safety-related routines and workers’ self-reported safety and in-role operational behaviors using a survey. Study 2 aimed to establish causal relationships by evaluating the same conceptual relationships in a behavioral-type experiment utilizing vehicle simulators. After receiving one of four pre-task briefings, participants completed a driving task scenario in a driving simulator.
Findings
In Study 1, the relationship between perceived safety focus and safety behavior/in-role operational behavior was strengthened at higher levels of perceived operations focus. In Study 2, participants who received the balanced pre-task briefing committed significantly fewer safety violations than the other 3 treatment groups. However, in-role driving deviations were not impacted as hypothesized.
Originality/value
This research is conducted at the individual (worker) level of analysis to capture the little-known perspectives of logistics and transportation workers and explore the influence of balanced safety and operational routines from a more micro perspective, thus contributing to a deeper understanding of how balanced routines might influence worker behavior when conducting dynamic tasks to ensure safe, effective outcomes.
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Ryan P. Jacobson, Kathryn J.L. Jacobson and Robert G. DelCampo
Although Hispanics represent a large and growing proportion of the US workforce, little is known regarding the possible effects of their somewhat unique cultural values, beliefs…
Abstract
Purpose
Although Hispanics represent a large and growing proportion of the US workforce, little is known regarding the possible effects of their somewhat unique cultural values, beliefs, and practices on their experiences of work-family conflict or job satisfaction. This research tested theoretically derived hypotheses regarding the protective effect of a component of familism values, family as a source of social support, on these outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
A moderated mediation model was tested using survey data from Hispanic professionals (N = 103).
Findings
As predicted, family support was negatively related to work interfering with family (WIF) and positively related to job satisfaction. WIF mediated the relationship between family support and job satisfaction. Additionally, gender moderated this mediated relationship such that the effects were stronger for Hispanic women than men.
Research limitations/implications
Generalizability of the results should be explored by employing larger samples that include longer tenured workers, employees with higher degrees of management experience, and additional Hispanic subgroups. Results contribute to a growing body of research demonstrating beneficial effects of familism values for Hispanics.
Practical implications
Results suggest that organizations may benefit from taking active steps to support familism values among Hispanic workers.
Originality/value
This is the first empirical study to explore the possible benefits of family support values on workplace outcomes.
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Jennifer Aranda, Scott Chazdon, Jocelyn I. Hernandez-Swanson, Tobias Spanier and Ellen Wolter
Minnesota’s rural communities are becoming increasingly more racially, ethnically, and culturally diverse. The state shares territory with 11 Sovereign Nations and one in five…
Abstract
Minnesota’s rural communities are becoming increasingly more racially, ethnically, and culturally diverse. The state shares territory with 11 Sovereign Nations and one in five Minnesotans identifies as Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) today, compared with just 1% in 1960. In collaboration with communities, University of Minnesota’s Extension Department of Community Development works to develop leadership capacity for residents to address inclusiveness, belonging, community climate and culture. The Welcoming and Inclusive Communities Program (WICP) focuses on measurement of community readiness within seven sectors combined with an educational stakeholder cohort experience leading to identification of challenges and best practices happening across a community. Curriculum includes exploring concepts of race and intersectionality and emphasizes the growth of leadership as participants work to promote equity and inclusion. Growing Local, another program in our community toolkit, is an intentional cohort series for BIPOC growth into leadership, more specifically, into decision-making arenas and positions of leadership, like their town/city/county committees, boards, and commissions. From learning the language of the oppressor (e.g., Robert’s Rules of Order) to understanding the dynamics and nuances of power-mapping and social capital, participants address the barriers facing BIPOC. This chapter highlights program design elements, assessments and evaluation, and lessons learned from program implementation to date. Scholars, researchers, practitioners, and leaders will find globally relevant and replicable tools to support the development of leaders who can shape their communities through the lens of inclusive leadership, increase and strengthen capacity to lead, build networks, and facilitate community-owned change.
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