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The purpose of this study was to examine how undergraduate peer mentors at Texas A&M University perceive their development of leadership behaviors through their peer mentor experience. Participants were first- generation college students serving as mentors to first-generation college students at Texas A&M University. A qualitative approach was used to examine reflections from the peer mentors about their personal best leadership experiences as a peer mentor and their self-reported highest scored practice on the Student Leadership Practices Inventory (SLPI). This study is rooted in Kouzes and Posner’s (1987, 2002) Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership model. There were 33 peer mentors who participated in this study. Mentor reflections showed evidence of behaviors demonstrating all five of the exemplary leadership practices through serving as a peer mentor.

The purpose of this study was to examine how undergraduate peer mentors at Texas A&M University perceive their development of leadership behaviors through their peer mentor experience. Participants were first- generation college students serving as mentors to first-generation college students at Texas A&M University. A qualitative approach was used to examine reflections from the peer mentors about their personal best leadership experiences as a peer mentor and their self-reported highest scored practice on the Student Leadership Practices Inventory (SLPI). This study is rooted in Kouzes and Posner’s (1987, 2002) Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership model. There were 33 peer mentors who participated in this study. Mentor reflections showed evidence of behaviors demonstrating all five of the exemplary leadership practices through serving as a peer mentor.

Food safety knowledge and hygienic practices by food handlers play an important role in the prevention of contamination of food prepared.

This descriptive survey was conducted in Maseru around the taxi ranks amongst 48 food handlers and 93 consumers using a semi-structured questionnaire for assessing food handler knowledge, attitudes and practices, open-ended questionnaire for obtaining consumer perceptions and observation checklist.

Majority of the food handlers were females (60%) and males constituted only (40%). The mean age was 35.5 ± 10.3 and 28.2 ± 9.9 respectively for street vendors and consumers. There was a statistically significant difference in knowledge among the trained and untrained vendors (p = 0040). On average the vendor population that participated in this study was considered to have poor knowledge (scores < 50%) of food safety since they scored 49% ± 11, while 84% of the respondents were considered to have positive attitudes towards food safety. Only 6% of the consumers reported that they never buy street vended foods mainly due to the hygiene issues. The observation checklist showed that the vendors operated under unhygienic conditions and that there was scarcity of clean water supply and hand washing facilities.

This study provides knowledge that was previously unknown about food vending in Lesotho. It has significantly added to the body of knowledge on food safety in Lesotho which can be used to modify policies and structure food safety training for people involved in the informal trade.

In the present study, the authors examined whether academic performance [grade point average (GPA)] can be predicted by self-reported frequency of memorization and recitation, verbatim memory performance, and self-efficacy in a sample of college students from Saudi Arabia.

Students' verse memory, word memory, experience with memorization and recitation, as well as general self-efficacy were measured. GPA was provided by the Office of the Registrar.

Verbatim memory performance for individual words and verses moderately predicted GPA.

To be determined is the extent to which memory skills for different materials are related to memorization and recitation practice as well as encoding preferences.

The findings indicate that even though in college a premium is placed on activities that transform the format of the materials to be learned, activities that replicate materials may still be helpful.

In Western pedagogy, memorization and recitation are considered counterproductive modes of information acquisition. The findings of this study illustrate that retention is an essential processing step upon which the complex cognitive activities that are embedded in college-level curricula rely.

The extant literature illustrates the benefits of exceptional memorization and recitation training. The findings suggest that academic success is positively related to what would be judged as moderate practice, thereby supporting the notion that benefits exist.

The purpose of this research project was to improve public awareness to improve public awareness of the importance of energy conservation and to improve the use of simple conservation strategies. A thorough evaluation of the net gain from the numerous energy campaigns rolled out to the public every year is lacking. This study conducted pre- and post-campaign surveys and focus groups to evaluate one campaign’s impact on self-reported energy behaviors.

The campaign used television public service announcements and a website to improve awareness of the city’s efforts to conserve energy and to increase individual energy conservation practices. Focus groups (n = 40) were used to identify common barriers to conservation, and pre- and post-surveys (n = 533, 479) were conducted to evaluate the campaign’s effectiveness.

Results indicated that the campaign increased positive changes in changing light bulbs and confidence in taking action to turn down thermostats, unplug devices and turn off lights. While follow-up research is needed on the precise mechanism of the psychological process at work, the findings are consistent with the concepts of self and response efficacy as needed components of any behavior change. The authors advocate the adoption of research-informed message design to maximize communication campaign effects.

This paper demonstrates how the combination of three prominent persuasion theories can be used to develop behavior change campaigns. Also, it is one of the few studies to evaluate the effectiveness of the Energy Star campaign.

This study aims to explore the alignment between strategic plans of the Portuguese public higher education institutions (HEIs) and their perception of the integration of sustainability in education and curricula.

The strategic plans from 15 institutions were selected for content analysis; data about the integration of sustainability in education and curricula, from these HEI, were collected with an online questionnaire (self-report survey). Qualitative and quantitative analyses were performed.

Strategic plans of the Portuguese public HEIs seem to not be sufficiently aligned with self-assessment integration of sustainability in education and curricula.

The classifications used in the content analysis were constructed and revised by the authors to reduce coder interpretation issues and subsequent bias in the results. However, some subjectivity could remain. The analysis of strategic plans and self-report surveys answered by top management, or a technician, does not assess the practices and sustainability implementation in education and curricula.

This study allows the self-report of already-implemented practices to be compared to the planned strategy of HEI governance in Portugal as stated in their strategic plans.

An analysis and respective insights on the lack of connection between strategic planning and self-report practices about sustainability implementation, using Portugal as a case study.

Although student-centered learning (SCL) has been encouraged for decades in higher education, to what level instructors are practicing SCL strategies remains in question. The purpose of this paper is to investigate a university faculty’s understanding and perceptions of SCL, along with current instructional practices in Qatar.

A mixed-method research design was employed including quantitative data from a survey of faculty reporting their current instructional practices and qualitative data on how these instructors define SCL and perceive their current practices via interviews with 12 instructors. Participants of the study are mainly from science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) field.

Study results show that these instructors have rather inclusive definitions of SCL, which range from lectures to student interactions via problem-based teamwork. However, a gap between the instructors’ perceptions and their actual practices was identified. Although student activities are generally perceived as effective teaching strategies, the interactions observed were mainly in the form of student–content or student-teacher, while student–student interactions were limited. Prevailing assessment methods are summative, while formative assessment is rarely practiced. Faculty attributed this lack of alignment between how SCL could and should be practiced and the reality to external factors, including students’ lack of maturity and motivation due to the Middle Eastern culture, and institutional constraints such as class time and size.

The study is limited in a few ways. First regarding methodological justification the data methods chosen in this study were mainly focused on the faculty’s self-reporting. Second the limited number of participants restricts this study’s generalizability because the survey was administered in a volunteer-based manner and the limited number of interview participants makes it difficult to establish clear patterns. Third, researching faculty members raises concerns in the given context wherein extensive faculty assessments are regularly conducted.

A list of recommendations is provided here as inspiration for institutional support and faculty development activities. First, faculty need deep understanding of SCL through experiences as learners so that they can become true believers and implementers. Second, autonomy is needed for faculty to adopt appropriate assessment methods that are aligned with their pedagogical objectives and delivery methods. Input on how faculty can adapt instructional innovation to tailor it to the local context is very important for its long-term effectiveness (Hora and Ferrare, 2014). Third, an inclusive approach to faculty evaluation by encouraging faculty from STEM backgrounds to be engaged in research on their instructional practice will not only sustain the practice of innovative pedagogy but will also enrich the research profiles of STEM faculty and their institutes.

The faculty’s understanding and perceptions of implementing student-centered approaches were closely linked to their prior experiences – experiencing SCL as a learner may better shape the understanding and guide the practice of SCL as an instructor.

SCL is not a new topic; however, the reality of its practice is constrained to certain social and cultural contexts. This study contributes with original and valuable insights into the gap between ideology and reality in implementation of SCL in a Middle Eastern context.

A sample of 276 students enrolled in campus leadership programs completed the Emotional Competence Inventory-University Edition (ECI-U) and the Socially Responsible Leadership Scale (SRLS) as a means to determine the relatedness in college students of emotional intelligence (EI) to the practice of post-industrial leadership skills. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) supported current use of subscales within the SRLS and showed that EI and post-industrial leadership skills represent distinct, yet related, constructs. Results also suggest the ECI-U may better represent one overall concept of Emotional Competence rather than four distinct areas of EI. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the relationship between the adoption of Social Accountability 8000 (SA8000) – which is considered the most important ethical certification standard – and firm performance, building on agency and contingency theories.

The authors analyse secondary longitudinal balance sheet data of listed firms employing a rigorous event-study approach and compare SA8000-certified companies to different control groups based on three matching criteria, i.e., industry, size, and pre-certification performance. The authors then study the moderating effects of the cultural features, the country’s development level, and the labour intensity on the causal relationship through multiple regression methods.

The authors find that SA8000 certification positively affects labour productivity and sales performance but has no effect on profitability. Furthermore, the study supports that the relationship between SA8000 and profitability is moderated by two cultural features of the home country of the firms (i.e. power distance and uncertainty avoidance).

This is the first study, which empirically tests the effects of the ethical certification SA8000 on firm performance using a cross-country sample. In addition, the authors contribute to the wider debate on the effects of corporate social responsibility practices on firm performance.

This quantitative study was completed in order to gather initial data on the leadership practices currently being employed by county level 4-H educators in a northeast state. A survey instrument including the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ), the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI), and a demographics questionnaire, was sent to all extension 4-H educators. Findings had educators self reporting the use of transformational leadership skills fairly often while transactional skills only once in a while. Also, educators reported the moderate use of skills including role modeling and engaging others in activities; but low usage scores were reported in areas of visioning, bringing people on board, and rewarding people for successes. Recommendations include staff development opportunities that will specifically address the gaps in leadership skills.