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A number of factors have been identified as important to the retention and success of minority students in American higher education. Foremost among these factors are college experience variables like academic integration and social integration. The purpose of this study was to model the relationship between college experience and academic performance for minority students enrolled in an American institution of higher learning. Using structural equation modeling techniques, a model of the college experience consistent with past research was proposed and tested. The results provide support for the proposed model. Implications of the findings for improving research and practice in the field of educational management are outlined.

A growing need for global sourcing of business has subjected firms to higher levels of uncertainty and increased risk of supply disruption. Differences in industry and infrastructure make it more difficult for firms to manage supply disruption risks effectively. The purpose of this paper is to extend developing research in this area by addressing gaps within existing literature related to environmental turbulence and uncertainties.

The authors test the model using data collected from 253 senior managers and directors in the Thai beverage industry using advanced statistical techniques to explore the relationship between representations of supply disruption risk and uncertainty.

The results show that both magnitude and probability of risk impact on the disruption risk, but the probability of loss is a dominant determinant. The authors also find that demand uncertainty and quality uncertainty affect the risk perception of purchasing managers, and are related to the magnitude of disruption risk, rather than the frequency of occurrence. Interestingly, the results show that quality uncertainty negatively impacts on the severity of disruption risk.

The construct validity of demand uncertainty was under the required threshold, intimating the need for further construct development.

The framework provides managers with direction on how to formulate and target their disruption risk management strategies. The work also allows practitioners to critical reflect on implicit risk management strategies they may already employ and their effectiveness.

The paper identifies key antecedents of supply disruption risk and tests them within a novel industrial context of the beverage industry and a novel national context of Thailand.

The purpose of this conceptual paper is to present the existing research on already effective programmatic efforts designed to increase diversity in STEM fields and to subsequently encourage researchers and practitioners to more intentionally build upon and design effective interventions around this issue.

Previous research findings accredit this success to various forms of support, such as mentors, study groups, student programs and student organizations (Hurtado et al., 2012; Maton et al., 2000; May and Chubin, 2003).

Higher education professionals have experienced a rise in concern regarding the alarming disparities of minority students pursuing STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) majors and careers. Because of this, researchers are interested in exploring and addressing some of the reasons.

Through the discussion of ideas for action and the proposing of a theoretical foundation from the field of student development, the authors offer recommendations for future research and strategies to further improve recruitment, retention and performance for minority students in STEM fields.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mediating role of three important relational capabilities – absorptive capacity (AC), transactive memory systems (TMS), and organisational interoperability (OI); on the flexibility of buyer-supplier relationships and performance in retail supply chains. Drawing on the relational view of strategic management, the impact of relational capabilities on two forms of supply chain flexibility is examined – configuration flexibility (CF) for switching suppliers with minimal penalties, and planning and control flexibility (PCF) for altering supply schedules, quality, and delivery lead-time.

Strategic- and tactical-level managers from 211 retail stores in the UK were surveyed. The authors validated a measurement model with structural equation modelling and tested four hypotheses on the mediating role of relational capabilities on supply chain flexibility and retail performance, controlling for size, duration of relationship, and market segment.

Results showed that the three relational capabilities partially mediated the positive effect of CF and PCF on operational performance in big middle and niche retailers. Examining the interaction effect of the forms of flexibility on the relational capabilities and performance, the authors found positive interaction effects on TMS and OI but a non-significant effect on AC.

In addition to providing novel theoretical insights on supply chain flexibility, the findings have practical implications for supplier selection and buyer-supplier relationship management.

Overall, the study highlights the impacts of relational capabilities on adopted operational strategies such as flexibility, buyer-supplier relationships, and retail performance.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between transformational leadership style and factors of employees’ reactions towards organizational change in the telecommunication sector of Pakistan. Furthermore, to understand the importance of followership it has been analyzed as a moderating variable in the relationship between transformational leadership style and factors of employees’ reactions.

A mixed methods study design was applied to investigate the factors underlying the phenomenon of transformational leadership and organizational change. A quantitative research design was followed by qualitative research questions to get more in-depth insights into the used relationships. The primary purpose of the qualitative study design was to support and strengthened the results of the main quantitative research design.

The results of the study showed that transformational leadership style was positively related to all three factors of employees’ reactions (frequency of change, trust in management and employees’ participation) towards organizational change. Moreover, followership has a significant effect on the relationship between transformational leadership style and factors of employees’ reaction.

This study suggests that for successful implementation of change in organizations, the employees play an important role and that managers with transformational leadership behaviour play a critical role in shaping positive change reactions. This study also highlights that both transformational leadership and followership are essential elements in shaping recipients’ reactions, with active followers contributing to the role of leadership in the change process.

This study is the first attempt specifically in Asian context to highlight the role of followership as a moderating variable in leadership theory in the organizational change context.

Digital transformation (DT) is a priority for the healthcare sector. In many countries, it is still considered in the early stages with an underestimation of its benefits and potentiality. Especially in Italy, little is known about the impact of digitalization – particularly of the Internet of Things (IoT) – on the healthcare sector, for example, in terms of clinician's jobs and patient's experience. Drawing from such premises, the paper aims to focus on an overlooked healthcare area related to the chronic heart diseases field and its relationship with DT. The authors aim at exploring and framing the main variables of remote Monitoring (RM) adoption as a specific archetype of healthcare digitalization, both on patients and medical staff level, by shedding some lights on its overall implementation.

The authors empirically inquiry the RM adoption within the context of the Cardiology Department of the Casilino General Hospital of Rome. To answer our research question, the authors reconstruct the salient information by using induction-type reasoning, direct observation and interviewees with 12 key informants, as well as secondary sources analysis related to the hospital (internal documentation, presentations and technical reports).

According to a socio-technical framework, the authors build a model composed of five main variables related to medical staff and patients. The authors classify such variables into an input-process-output (I-P-O) model. RM adoption driver represents the input; cultural digital divide, structure flexibility and reaction to change serve the process and finally, RM outcome stands for the output. All these factors, interacting together, contribute to understanding the RM adoption process for chronic disease management.

The authors' research presents two main limitations. The first one is related to using a qualitative method, which is less reliable in terms of replication and the interpretive role of researchers. The second limitation, connected to the first one, is related to the study's scale level, which focuses on a mono-centric consistent level of analysis.

The paper offers a clear understanding of the RM attributes and a comprehensive view for improving the overall quality management of chronic diseases by suggesting that clinicians carefully evaluate both hard and soft variables when undertaking RM adoption decisions.

RM technologies could impact on society both in ordinary situations, by preventing patient mobility issues and transport costs, and in extraordinary times (such as a pandemic), where telemedicine contributes to supporting hospitals in swapping in-person visits with remote controls, in order to minimize the risk of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) contagion or the spread of the virus.

The study enriches the knowledge and understanding of RM adoption within the healthcare sector. From a theoretical perspective, the authors contribute to the healthcare DT adoption debate by focusing on the main variables contributing to the DT process by considering both medical staff and patient's role. From a managerial perspective, the authors highlight the main issues for RM of chronic disease management to enable the transition toward its adoption. Such issues range from the need for awareness of the medical staff about RM advantages to the need for adapting the organizational structure and the training and education process of the patients.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the hypothesis that collaboration was a key characteristic of Cuban science to maintain their scientific capacity during a period of economic restrictions and an important feature of Cuban science policy and practice for the benefit of society.

Collaboration was studied through Cuban scientific publications listed in PubMed for the period 1990-2010. The search was carried out using the advanced search engine of PubMed indicating < Cuba > in the affiliation field. To identify participating institutions a second search was performed to find the affiliations of all authors per article through the link to the electronic journal. A data set was created to identify institutional publication patterns for the surveyed period. Institutions were classified in three categories according to their scientific production as Central, Middle or Distal: the pattern of collaboration between these categories was analysed.

Results indicate that collaboration between scientifically advanced institutions (Central) and a wide range of national institutions is a consequence of the social character of science in Cuba in which cooperation prevails. Although this finding comes from a limited field of biomedical science it is likely to reflect Cuban science policy in general.

Using bibliometric tools the study suggests that Cuban science policy and practice ensure the application of science for social needs by harnessing human resources through national and international collaboration, building in this way stronger scientific capacity.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the way gender and gender roles are socially constructed by those who have experience of females committing sexual offences against children.

Using a discursive approach, supported by membership category analysis, a secondary analysis of qualitative data illustrates how the social construction of gender and gender roles impacts on society’s perception of females who commit sexual offences against children.

Discourse analysis found three patterns employed within conversation that demonstrate how the construction of women influence society’s incomprehension of females who commit sexual offences against children: women can be trusted, women do not manipulate and groom and, women are not sexually aggressive.

A limitation of this study is the use of secondary data, which cannot provide the richness or detail found in primary accounts from people with this lived experience. The difficulty in accessing this sub-population highlights the hidden nature of the topic and the need for further research in this area.

This is the first study to explore how gender discourse is used in discussions of females who commit sexual offences against children. The value of this exploration highlights the need of society to adjust their perceptions of the offending capabilities of women and to ensure the experiences of people who experience this form of sexual abuse receive support.

The aim of this study is to analyze the antecedents of word-of-mouth (WOM) in a social networking sites (SNS) context, based on social identification theory and uses and gratification theory. This general objective can be divided into two sub-objectives. First, to measure the relationship between social identity, altruism and perceived encouragement as antecedents of WOM in SNS. Second, to study the existence of SNS-user segments which have differentiated behaviors according to the proposed model.

Partial least squares (PLS) has been used to analyze both validity and reliability of the measurement scales and the estimation of the structural model. Next, the heterogeneity of SNS-users has been analyzed using the finite mixture segmentation FIMIX-PLS. Furthermore, a multi-group analysis (MGA-PLS) has been used to analyze the differences between the behaviors of the resulting segments.

The main conclusion of this study is that social identity and perceived encouragement are worthy predictors of WOM. Additionally, there is a strong relationship between social identity and perceived encouragement. Another significant consequence is the existence of a large quantity of unobserved heterogeneity. Unsociable users, habitual users and obligated users show different behaviors regarding the relationships between the variables of the proposed model.

The results indicate that in general WOM communications transmitted by SNS-users are not motivated by altruism or by their willingness to help others. In addition, social identity and perceived encouragement are good predictors of WOM. Another originality of this research is that considering only one general model hides a large amount of unobserved heterogeneity: different segments of users showed diverse behaviors regarding the model’s variables.

The rapid growth of the Internet has provided tremendous opportunities for service companies to offer quality services. The prime drivers and motivations for offering such services through the Net are to reduce transaction costs and to provide efficient and effective service to customers. But what are the determinants essential for building a successful electronic service (e‐service) operation? This paper addresses this specific issue by isolating the essential determinants from the available literature, and assessing them individually to obtain better insights and understanding. This could help companies to design and develop robust foundations on which to build successful e‐service operations. The boundaries between e‐service, e‐business and e‐commerce are blurred and sometimes confusing. This paper aims to clarify some of these ambiguities.