Search results
1 – 10 of over 4000Fariba Darabi, Mark N.K. Saunders and Murray Clark
The purpose of this study is to explore trust initiation and development in collaborations between universities and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the implications…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore trust initiation and development in collaborations between universities and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the implications for enabling engaged scholarship (ES).
Design/methodology/approach
Adopting a qualitative inductive approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive maximum variation sample comprising 14 SMEs and 12 university stakeholders.
Findings
The authors highlight the role of calculus-based trust in the initiation of collaborations emphasising the key roles of networking and referrals. As collaborations develop, reciprocal insights regarding stakeholders’ competencies and integrity and the development of knowledge-based trust can support engagement, in particular, knowledge application. Although relationships have a common sense of purpose, a fully engaged campus remains absent.
Research limitations/implications
This study is based on a collaborative research between eight SMEs and one university business school and does not reflect ES fully as conceptualised. It provides few insights into the role of trust (or distrust) in such collaborations where things go wrong.
Practical implications
Universities looking to enable ES collaborations with SMEs need to develop and enact strategies which support ongoing engagement and enable identification-based trust (IBT). Recommendations for universities and human resource development regarding interventions to support trust initiation and development to enable knowledge application ES are outlined and suggestions are offered for future research.
Social implications
University strategies to support the development of trust and, in particular, IBT are likely to benefit longer-term relationships and the development of ES between SMEs and universities.
Originality/value
Little research has been undertaken on trust initiation and development between academic and SME stakeholders or the associated implications for ES.
Details
Keywords
Khahan Na-Nan, Peerapong Pukkeeree and Kanokporn Chaiprasit
Employee engagement (EE) is an expression of a person's own preferred task behaviours that promote their relationship with work and personal physical, cognition and emotion and…
Abstract
Purpose
Employee engagement (EE) is an expression of a person's own preferred task behaviours that promote their relationship with work and personal physical, cognition and emotion and make them more active in terms of vigour, dedication and level of absorption with their work. To deal with EE in different environments and organisations, it is necessary to both understand and continually assess their employees. This paper presents an instrument which was developed to measure EE for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Thailand.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was conducted in three stages to develop an EE measurement scale. To begin with, 18 questions were developed for a questionnaire based on the concepts of EE and validated using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) which is split into the dimensions of vigour, dedication and absorption. A survey was then conducted with 270 employees in SMEs. Finally, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), convergence and validity were tested along the three engagement dimensions.
Findings
This research extended and broadened the EE concept to provide theoretical support for engaging with intelligence research. Three dimensions were developed to measure EE, including aspects of vigour, dedication and absorption with their work.
Research limitations/implications
The questionnaire used was produced primary data collection which was self-assessed, and data was collected only from the sample of employees working for SMEs in high-growth sectors of the Thai economy. The EE findings exhibited a good fit, but the results require further future refinement and validation using a larger sample size and sampling area.
Practical implications
The EE questionnaire has practical uses for monitoring management behaviour and can assist practitioners to assess the level of EE. This knowledge will help to encourage and support practitioners to improve EE. This research also provides other measurements for assessing EE in organisations.
Originality/value
The EE questionnaire validity will facilitate future studies on the boundaries of EE measurements in the context of SMEs. The empirical research results verified that EE assessment offered new perspectives to explore vital individual EE which is necessary for SMEs. This instrument can also support and help researchers to effectively understand EE and explore its potential in future studies.
Details
Keywords
Proactive firms recognize that environmental and social issues are sources of competitive advantages, but whatever the motivation, organizations face challenges when implementing…
Abstract
Proactive firms recognize that environmental and social issues are sources of competitive advantages, but whatever the motivation, organizations face challenges when implementing sustainable practices. For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), sustainable practices have stemmed from multinational corporations (MNC), but SMEs cannot adopt sustainable practices from the knowledge and experiences of large corporations because the two entities differ critically. This study introduces an integrated model of employee adoption of sustainable practices in SMEs. It is based on five behaviors to select practical areas to which SMEs can make internal changes to achieve sustainable practices and the benefits gained from them. The theory of planned behavior is used to extend employee adoption of sustainable practices to SMEs.
Details
Keywords
This study aims to address how the ISO 14001 standardisation and certification process improves substantive performance in small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to address how the ISO 14001 standardisation and certification process improves substantive performance in small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through the development of an environmental management control system (EMCS).
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative cross-case interview design with those responsible for the implementation of an environmental management system (certified to ISO 14001) in SMEs is adopted to inductively “theorise” the EMCS.
Findings
The design and monitoring of environmental controls are often beyond the scope of the SMEs’ top management team and include extra-organisational dimensions such as the external audit and institutional requirements. This suggests more complex control pathways for SMEs to produce EMCS that primarily function as packages and are broader than the analytical level of the firm. Here, controlling for environmental performance exists at strategic and operational levels, as well as beyond the SMEs’ boundaries.
Practical implications
Various internal controls are put forward for SME owner-managers to meet environmental targets (e.g. gamification and interpersonal communication strategies). This builds upon a broader accountability perspective wherein formalised hierarchical control is only one route for ensuring sustainable action within the ISO 14001-certified SMEs.
Social implications
This study contributes to a more sustainable society through developing an understanding of how environmental sustainability is substantively managed by SMEs to improve performance for current and future generations.
Originality/value
This paper, to the best of the author’s knowledge, is one of the first to establish how SMEs control for environmental sustainability from empirically derived evidence. In doing so, it provides an example of the EMCS for the SME context.
Details
Keywords
Aliyu Yelwa Haruna and Govindan Marthandan
This study aims to examine the impact of foundational competencies on work engagement in the context of the Malaysian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) service sector.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the impact of foundational competencies on work engagement in the context of the Malaysian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) service sector.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a cross-sectional study conducted in Malaysia, and data were gathered via a survey on 312 employees representing SMEs service sectors. Partial least squares techniques were used in testing the hypothesized linkages.
Findings
The findings indicated that foundational competencies have a significant positive effect on work engagement.
Research limitations/implications
Considering the research approach, generalizing the findings of this study must be done with caution. Longitudinal data are recommended, as these could provide additional support to the results. Further studies can as well extend the framework by testing whether job resources play a positive role in enhancing the relationship between foundational competencies and work engagement in Malaysia.
Practical implications
The findings suggest that foundational competencies positively relate to work engagement. Therefore, training and coaching sessions could be organized by managers/policy makers to enhance these competencies, which will strengthen work engagement and career development of the employee; it may specifically be very helpful for fresh graduates whose careers would have just started.
Originality/value
To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first attempt to examine the effect of American Society of Training and Development foundational competencies on work engagement in SMEs in Malaysia.
Details
Keywords
Waranpong Boonsiritomachai and Ploy Sud-On
Past research has convincingly shown that the more entrepreneurial employees are, the more likely they are to leave the organization and start their own enterprise. Therefore, the…
Abstract
Purpose
Past research has convincingly shown that the more entrepreneurial employees are, the more likely they are to leave the organization and start their own enterprise. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to understand how entrepreneurial employees can be retained in organizations by examining the relationships between work engagement, organizational commitment and entrepreneurial attitude among entry-level employees.
Design/methodology/approach
Covariance-based structural equation modeling is used to test the hypothesized relationships by using a survey of 416 employees.
Findings
The results of the study indicate that an entrepreneurial attitude significantly and positively contributes to work engagement, although it can divert employee attention regarding the level of commitment. Interestingly, the study findings show that employees will commit to an organization if they have engaged with the company, even if they have a highly entrepreneurial attitude.
Practical implications
This study’s findings are beneficial in understanding the concept of an entrepreneurial attitude and its impact on an organization. For firms to concurrently promote entrepreneurial characteristics and employee commitment, policy and staff practices must ensure the appropriate level of work engagement.
Originality/value
This study proposes new distal antecedent and consequence constructs of the engagement theory related to entrepreneurial attitude orientation and establishes the important link between these constructs with work engagement. The findings originally point to the role of work engagement in maintaining entrepreneurial employees and its effect on organizational commitment.
Details
Keywords
Peter de Boer and Prantik Bordoloi
Generation Z (Gen Z) will account for a growing proportion of the global workforce in the coming years. Therefore, it is vitally important to understand this generation’s unique…
Abstract
Purpose
Generation Z (Gen Z) will account for a growing proportion of the global workforce in the coming years. Therefore, it is vitally important to understand this generation’s unique perspectives and preferences regarding work. This exploratory study aims to examine the prioritisation and desirability of Gen Z work values according to respondents’ nationality.
Design/methodology/approach
Data for this study were collected through a survey among 1,188 undergraduate students enrolled in one university each in China, Germany, the Netherlands and Thailand. ANOVA test and Tukey post hoc analysis were used to find out the difference between the groups based on nationality.
Findings
Findings indicate that nationality serves as a key differentiator in work value preferences. The findings challenge the concept of a global Gen Z as only two of the measured values, learning and visible results, were found to have universal appeal across the nationality groups. In spite of increased levels of global interconnectedness and accompanying crossvergence of values, the results show significant statistical differences in work values based on the respondents’ nationality.
Research limitations/implications
Because of the scope and explorative design of the present study, it cannot be certain that the findings are exclusively from Gen Z characteristics or influenced by other, non-cultural, variables.
Practical implications
This study suggests there is a need for study programmes at a tertiary level to embed experiential learning components and individual study pathways in their curricula to enable students to develop realistic expectations about the workplace and their place in it. In turn, these programmes will be able to develop a competitive advantage in higher education landscape.
Originality/value
The insights gained can be leveraged by internationally oriented study programmes, such as International Business (IB), to better address Gen Z needs and expectations.
Details
Keywords
Myat Su Han, Daniel Peter Hampson and Yonggui Wang
This study aims to investigate whether or not the two facets of pride, hubristic and authentic, are associated with knowledge hiding.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate whether or not the two facets of pride, hubristic and authentic, are associated with knowledge hiding.
Design/methodology/approach
This study collects survey data (N = 343) from one of the leading information technology (IT) companies in Myanmar at two stages with a two-month interval. This study uses multiple regression analyses to test this study’s hypotheses.
Findings
Results reveal that hubristic pride is positively related to knowledge hiding, whereas the relationship between authentic pride and knowledge hiding is negative. These relationships are contingent upon the level of employees’ self-efficacy.
Research limitations/implications
This study suggests that managers should include measures for moral emotions in their recruitment and selection criteria. Furthermore, the authors suggest that managers should design strategies to induce moral emotions at the workplace and enhance personal resources (e.g. self-efficacy), which have an instrumental effect in maximizing the prosocial facet of pride (i.e. authentic pride) as well as minimizing adverse experiences of the antisocial facet of pride (i.e. hubristic pride), thereby reducing knowledge hiding.
Originality/value
The findings shed light on the significance of the inclusion of emotional variables in understanding employees’ knowledge hiding. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first empirical study to examine the combined effect of emotive and cognitive variables in predicting knowledge hiding by demonstrating that hubristic pride only mitigates knowledge hiding behavior among high self-efficacious employees.
Details
Keywords
Employee engagement is a workplace approach resulting in the right conditions for all members of an organisation to give their best each day. The result is that the staff is…
Abstract
Chapter Contribution
Employee engagement is a workplace approach resulting in the right conditions for all members of an organisation to give their best each day. The result is that the staff is committed to their organisation’s goals and values, motivated to contribute to organisational success, with an enhanced sense of their own well-being. Although employee engagement as a practice is evidenced as bringing improved productivity to small businesses, and while 87% of the UK small enterprises claim that they are taking active steps to improve employee engagement, only 12% of such businesses list it as a business priority.
In a smaller organisation, it is easier for leaders to be involved in driving forward and measuring planned actions to improve employee engagement. According to the consulting firm Aon Hewitt (2015), there are six major categories for drivers of employee engagement: (1) The work people do; (2) The people they work with; (3) Opportunities; (4) Total rewards; (5) Company practices; and (6) Quality of life.
The focus of this chapter is to recommend how small businesses can drive employee engagement using the six drivers of engagement recommended by Aon Hewitt, and improve levels of productivity in the firm.
The purpose of this paper is twofold: to examine the role of online networks in employee engagement and to analyze the factors influencing leaders’ involvement in online social…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is twofold: to examine the role of online networks in employee engagement and to analyze the factors influencing leaders’ involvement in online social networking.
Design/methodology/approach
The study’s participants included team leaders, managers and directors working in Fortune 500 companies in the USA. Data were collected through structured surveys delivered through LinkedIn, professional online networking platform to randomly selected users with leadership roles. Totally, 194 matched questionnaires were returned.
Findings
The results indicate that employee engagement is positively associated with the time leaders spend on internal online networking platforms, the code of online networking conduct, and the presence of an open-organizational culture. Furthermore, the study shows that organizations can influence leaders’ use of online social networking platforms through an open culture and training. Finally, the findings also indicate that leaders, who communicate with a higher percentages of employees through internal and external platforms, also spend more time on online social networking platforms than those who do not. Surprisingly, a hierarchical structure and the code of conduct are not an indicator of the number of hours that leaders spend on online networking platforms.
Research limitations/implications
The study has three main limitations. First, it was conducted among leaders working in companies from the Fortune 500 list, because the majority of these companies have already implemented internal networking platforms, which are not yet popular in small and medium enterprises (SME). In the future, companies from the SME sector are also worth studying. Second, the study was undertaken among leaders from the USA, because most of the online networking platforms were developed there and then adopted in other countries. Online networking trends in other countries are also very interesting topics for study in future research projects. Third, the quality of the time leaders spend on online platforms should also be examined in future studies.
Practical implications
The next generation of leaders should pay increasing attention to online social networking platforms so as to be more effective in fostering employees’ social and emotional well-being. Organizations that seek ways to facilitate involvement among their leaders in internal online networking, need to organize training and support leaders and employees in the use of online networking platforms.
Social implications
The use of online social networking platforms change the way people communicate with others and how companies can use online social networking for the social well-being of their employees.
Originality/value
This research provides a new look at employee engagement in the current working environment as well as organizational features fostering leaders’ involvement in online networking.
Details