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1 – 10 of over 8000In Germany, various approaches have been taken to tackle the current teacher shortage in technical and vocational education and training (TVET). One attempt to remedy the shortage…
Abstract
Purpose
In Germany, various approaches have been taken to tackle the current teacher shortage in technical and vocational education and training (TVET). One attempt to remedy the shortage in Bavaria has been the introduction of an engineering education study programme at universities of applied sciences. Ideal candidates for this programme should have an interest in both engineering and social interaction. For effective recruitment, therefore, it is necessary to know applicants’ characteristics such as their vocational interests. In this study, the vocational interest profiles of students in TVET teacher training programmes were identified and their interest profiles and further characteristics were compared with those of other VET students at universities and universities of applied sciences.
Design/methodology/approach
An online questionnaire based on Holland’s interest theory and adapted from the Allgemeiner-Interessen-Struktur-Test-3 (interest structure test) was administered to 85 students in TVET teacher training programmes at universities and universities of applied sciences in Bavaria. Items regarding reasons for choosing a particular study programme, university location and other personal details were added.
Findings
The vocational interest profiles of students at universities and universities of applied sciences can be described as similar but weakly differentiated. Insights are provided by the characteristics of students such as the majority being first-time academics in the family. The reasons for choosing the degree programme and university location highlight the fact that a large proportion of students in engineering education would not have chosen a teaching-related degree programme if it had not been offered at the respective university of applied sciences.
Research limitations/implications
Although the sample in this study was small and, therefore, limiting, it represented a high proportion of TVET teacher training students in Bavaria and a substantial proportion of first-year students in TVET teacher training programmes at universities and universities of applied sciences in Bavaria (section 2.2 and 3.1). Thus, the findings provide valuable insights into commonalities in interest profiles between engineering education students at universities of applied sciences and other TVET students at universities. With respect to the domain of the chosen vocational specialisation, differentiated profiles emerged that, for example, showed a stronger artistic orientation among students in construction technology/wood. For further analysis, the previous variable-centred orientation of the analysis can be supplemented by person-centred analyses (e.g. cluster analysis and latent variable mixture modelling, LVMM) (cf. Leon et al., 2021).
Practical implications
The findings in this study reveal the potential for attracting candidates to universities of applied sciences if they prefer to study in rather rural areas close to their hometowns. With the aim to educate prospective teachers for future work not only in metropolitan regions but in rural areas too, offering bachelor degree programmes in rural areas would seem promising. A regional option can boost the recruitment of new students and attract candidates that otherwise would be unable to pursue studies or a career as a teacher in vocational education. The results of this study and those of previous studies suggest that universities of applied sciences can cooperate with universities to help solve the teacher shortage problem.
Social implications
Overall, it is apparent that the students' interests reached comparatively high values in all interest orientations and thus are only weakly differentiated. If undifferentiated profiles indicate low levels of career readiness, this significantly affects the recruitment of young people for the teaching profession. Assessing career orientation and promoting vocational interests should be prioritised during secondary school education. Vocational orientation measures are essential and should provide insight into typical activities of daily work life in different professions and thus pique and foster interests.
Originality/value
This study provides insight into how to respond to the teacher shortage in VET by identifying important characteristics of engineering education students using vocational interest profiling.
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Ümit Şengel, Gökhan Genç, Merve Işkın, Mustafa Çevrimkaya, Ioannis Assiouras, Burhanettin Zengin, Mehmet Sarıışık and Dimitrios Buhalis
The COVID-19 pandemic, which appeared in China in late 2019, has affected the world psychologically, socially and economically in 2020. Tourism is one of the areas where the…
Abstract
Purpose
The COVID-19 pandemic, which appeared in China in late 2019, has affected the world psychologically, socially and economically in 2020. Tourism is one of the areas where the effects of COVID-19 have been felt most clearly. The study aims to determine the effect of negative problem orientation (NPO) and perceived risk related to the COVID-19 pandemic on travel and destination visit intention.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employed a convenience and probabilistic sampling method for collecting data from 531 respondents using an online questionnaire. Partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used for testing research model.
Findings
According to the findings, NPO and perceived risk related to the pandemic were found to have direct and indirect effects on the travel behavior of tourists. The results of this research provide theoretical and practical implications for hospitality and travel businesses on topics such as the psychological effects of the pandemic and the travel behaviors of tourists.
Originality/value
It is estimated that the pandemic will also affect tourist behavior due to its effects on human psychology. For this reason, a study conducted in the context of tourist behavior theories is expected to contribute to the literature, managers and future of the tourism.
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Walter Leal Filho, Maria Alzira Pimenta Dinis, Maria F. Morales, María Semitiel-García, Pedro Noguera-Méndez, Salvador Ruiz de Maya, María-del-Carmen Alarcón-del-Amo, Nuria Esteban-Lloret and María Pemartín
Higher education institutions (HEIs) offer courses and programmes focusing on sustainability in economics, as courses on sustainable development (SD), which examine the economic…
Abstract
Purpose
Higher education institutions (HEIs) offer courses and programmes focusing on sustainability in economics, as courses on sustainable development (SD), which examine the economic, social and environmental dimensions of SD. This paper aims to examine sustainability integration in economics degree programmes.
Design/methodology/approach
Through an extensive literature review in Web of Science (WoS) and information search in Google, conducting to 28 relevant case studies, this paper elucidates the emphasis given to sustainability as part of economics degree programmes in HEIs.
Findings
The results suggest that, whereas the inclusion of sustainability components in this field is a growing trend, much still needs to be done to ensure that matters related to SD are part of the routine of university students studying economics.
Research limitations/implications
It is worth noting that the literature review conducted in WoS was primarily aimed at assisting in the selection of university case studies. The 28 university case studies scrutinised in this study may lack sufficient representation from numerous developing countries.
Practical implications
This study highlights challenges in integrating the SD into economics degree programmes, suggesting the need for curriculum adjustments as underscoring operational issues, acting as barriers. The inclusion of sustainability in economics programmes must navigate operational issues stemming from packed timetables and busy schedules, requiring innovative solutions.
Social implications
As far as the authors are aware, this study holds substantial importance in its emphasis on implementing sustainability within HEIs’ economics programmes, assisting in pursuing SD.
Originality/value
The novelty of this study lies in addressing sustainability with the specific economics focus programmes within the HEIs context.
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Educational institutions have a special social responsibility to initiate processes of sustainability transformation in society, nevertheless, activities that effectively address…
Abstract
Purpose
Educational institutions have a special social responsibility to initiate processes of sustainability transformation in society, nevertheless, activities that effectively address students as well as employees are rather moderate. To initiate change alongside strategic and political decisions, this paper aims to present findings of a gamification intervention (hereafter referred to as climate duel), which was implemented in a field study and tested to assess its potential as a supporting and transformative approach in a university context.
Design/methodology/approach
A three-month field study was conducted with two universities of applied sciences. The study included an environmental impact analysis of the two participating university departments, the conception and testing of the intervention and associated surveys to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention in order to and to obtain feedback that would allow the duel to be scaled up at other universities or institutions.
Findings
Three hundred seventy-five people took part and saved 2.6 tons of greenhouse gas emissions through their participation in the climate duel and their corresponding behavioural changes. In addition, feedback from the participants yielded positive results in terms of behavioural changes and generated valuable evidence for future implementations. Nevertheless, there is still room for improvement, especially in terms of supporting communication activities that promote social relatedness to motivate each other, share experiences or deal with implementation difficulties in everyday life.
Originality/value
Building on the promising effects of gamification, the study is a showcase for applied science. With the possibility of testing a theory-based intervention in practice, an implementable, effective and scalable measure for universities that helps to accelerate the transformation process is available.
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Haidar Abbas, Paikar Fatima, Abdul-Aziz Mustahil Ahmed Ali Akaak, Guilherme F. Frederico and Vikas Kumar
This research aims to ascertain the various operational maturity challenges faced by the online food ordering and delivery enterprises (OFODE), their nature and their interactive…
Abstract
Purpose
This research aims to ascertain the various operational maturity challenges faced by the online food ordering and delivery enterprises (OFODE), their nature and their interactive relationships. In particular, this paper aims to (a) identify the most relevant operational maturity challenges faced by the OFODE during the COVID-19 lockdown in Oman, (b) explore and establish any likely structural relationship among these challenges and (c) put them into logical clusters.
Design/methodology/approach
Experts helped to reduce the 18 initially identified maturity challenges to 13 most pressing ones. Mutual relationships, dominance of interactions and their classifications were explored using fuzzy interpretive structural modeling (FISM) and fuzzy MICMAC analysis.
Findings
The study of situation-specific operational maturity challenges convinced the authors to propose a distinct FISM model that depicts the relationship among these challenges. Keeping commissions and fees reasonable emerges as the challenge which all other challenges seemingly culminate into. One of the most important situation-specific challenges (i.e. customer confidence about infection free delivery) emerges as a linkage challenge which aggravates as well as is aggravated by certain challenges.
Research limitations/implications
Besides enriching literature, the proposed model has implications for practitioners particularly when the similar lethal waves are experienced anywhere. The number of respondents, subjective approach, specific context as well as the geographical area coverage are the key limitations.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first known scientific effort which attempts to model the operational maturity challenges faced by the OFODE during COVID-19 lockdown period. The authors used the FISM modeling approach to forge these interrelated challenges into a structural model.
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Lai-Ying Leong, Teck Soon Hew, Keng-Boon Ooi, Nick Hajli and Garry Wei-Han Tan
Social commerce (SC) is a new genre in electronic commerce (e-commerce) that has great potential. This study proposes a new research framework to address deficiencies in existing…
Abstract
Purpose
Social commerce (SC) is a new genre in electronic commerce (e-commerce) that has great potential. This study proposes a new research framework to address deficiencies in existing social commerce research frameworks (e.g. the information model).
Design/methodology/approach
In the era of Industrial Revolution 4.0 technologies and new social commerce (s-commerce) models, the authors believe that there is an immediate need for a new research framework. The authors analysed the progress of the s-commerce paradigm between 2003 and 2023 by applying longitudinal science mapping. The authors then developed a research framework based on the themes in the strategic diagrams and evolution map.
Findings
From 2003 to 2010, studies on s-commerce mainly focused on social networking sites, virtual communities, social shopping and analytic approaches. From 2011 to 2015, it shifted to s-commerce, consumer behaviour, Web 2.0, artificial intelligence, social technologies, online shopping, user studies, data gathering methods, applications, service-based social commerce constructs, e-commerce and cognitive factors. Social commerce remained the primary research paradigm from 2017 to 2023.
Practical implications
The SC framework may be analogous to popular research frameworks such as technology-organisation-environment (T-O-E) and stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R). Based on this SC framework, researchers may gain a better understanding by determining the factors of the social, commercial, technological and behavioural dimensions.
Originality/value
The authors redefined s-commerce and developed an SC framework. Practical guidelines for the SC framework and an exemplary research model are presented. Overall, this study offers a new research agenda for the extant understanding of s-commerce, with the SC framework as the next frontier of the theoretical advancements and applications of s-commerce.
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This study aims to investigate how Citation Gecko technology might help libraries provide better research support services. The paper explains specifically how Citation Gecko can…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate how Citation Gecko technology might help libraries provide better research support services. The paper explains specifically how Citation Gecko can help libraries provide more precise and thorough references, save time and enable methodical literature reviews and scoping studies amid the constantly evolving nature of research domains. The paper also considers how businesses and libraries can gain from implementing the technology.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper’s conceptual study of the function of librarians in assisting researchers – particularly in the setting of exhaustive literature reviews and scoping studies – forms the foundation of the piece. The authors talk about the difficulties in guaranteeing the authenticity and comprehensiveness of the literature review process and the significance of adopting tools like Citation Gecko to help with this process. The possible adoption of Citation Gecko in libraries is also forecasted using the technological adoption model paradigm.
Findings
Libraries that use Citation Gecko technology provide better research support services by providing accurate and comprehensive references, saving time and assisting systematic literature surveys and scoping studies. The tool is simple to use and does not require professional training due to its user-friendly interface and ability to produce references fast. Using Citation Gecko technology can enhance libraries’ capacities to support researchers, faculty and students in their research projects by making a significant contribution to systematic surveys and referencing efforts.
Originality/value
This study adds to the continuing discussion about how libraries may use technology to improve the services they provide to users who need research support. It had never been looked into how citation Gecko might help libraries with their reference and systematic review study offerings.
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João Vyctor Brás dos Santos, Tiago F.A.C. Sigahi, Izabela Simon Rampasso, Gustavo Hermínio Salati Marcondes de Moraes, Lucas Veiga Ávila, Walter Leal Filho and Rosley Anholon
The purpose of this paper is to examine competence management practices in Brazilian industries using ISO 10015 as a framework of analysis, which establishes guidelines for…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine competence management practices in Brazilian industries using ISO 10015 as a framework of analysis, which establishes guidelines for competence management and people development.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was conducted with 22 high-qualified human resources management (HRM) professionals (81.8% of participants hold a PhD) with extensive experience in the Brazilian industrial sector (an average of 20.4 years). The experts assessed 13 practices (P) elaborated based on the ISO 10015:2020, considering two categories: large industries (LI) and small and medium-sized industries (SMI). Data analysis was performed using Hierarchical Cluster Analysis, frequency analysis, Fuzzy TOPSIS and sensitivity analysis.
Findings
The practice “individual competences are correctly defined by organizations at all hierarchical levels” was deemed the best practice for LIs, while the practice “clear definition of activities and their specificities when structuring competence management and people development programs” was considered the best practice for SMIs. The practice “organizations map employees' future competence and development needs on a regular basis” received the lowest rating for both LIs and SMIs. When compared to LIs, SMIs have more severe deficiencies in applying competence management practices. The study's findings can be of great value in assisting managers in implementing structured competence management systems and people development initiatives.
Practical implications
The findings of this study can be used by managers of businesses of all sizes and economic sectors to analyze their critical points in order to identify opportunities to improve their competence management systems and people development programs.
Originality/value
This study fills a knowledge gap by analyzing the adoption of competence management practices in Brazil, answering the call for HRM research in developing countries. By using ISO 10015 as a framework of analysis, this study also addresses the literature gap regarding this important and relatively new management tool.
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Mustafa Çevrimkaya, Şenol Çavus and Ümit Şengel
This study aims to test the complaints of tourists who visit five-star hotels in Antalya, Turkey, on those same hotels’ websites.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to test the complaints of tourists who visit five-star hotels in Antalya, Turkey, on those same hotels’ websites.
Design/methodology/approach
In the study, the data were collected with qualitative methods but analyzed with the mixed analysis method. In this context, the authors collected 1,012 comments on the website between 2016 and 2019.
Findings
According to the results of the study, the most intense complaints were found to be concentrated in categories such as ambience, food and staff.
Originality/value
First of all, it is thought that it will make an important contribution to the literature, since different methodologies are adopted in the study. In addition, online shares, evaluations and comments produce positive or negative results for the destination or business in question. It is necessary to closely monitor such activities in electronic environments, as they may have negative consequences, thus revealing the need to take corrective or preventive measures. For this reason, the research is important in terms of not having such a large-scale study in the literature and contributing to the hospitality industry.
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Gesa Birnkraut and Marlene Eimterbäumer
The purpose of this paper is to describe a case study from the master program management in nonprofit organizations at the University of Applied Sciences in Osnabrück, Germany and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe a case study from the master program management in nonprofit organizations at the University of Applied Sciences in Osnabrück, Germany and show how this case of innovative teaching helps to educate responsible managers for the world of tomorrow.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors developed a model of a think tank to create a surrounding for students to learn about models and theories such as systems thinking and social innovations and work with practical instruments like the business canvas and design thinking. The objective was for the students to work on solutions for societal challenges.
Findings
The main findings were twofold: First, it is clear that the objective of the case was met. The evaluation at the end of both iterations made it clear, that the result is important for the students and something that they can embrace as their own. Second, the students show intense problems with the freedom that they get. It is very interesting how students are primed to perform in the regulation given by professors. Once these frameworks are loosened, they seem lost.
Originality/value
The value lies in the creation of a model that can be used by multiple professors in very different management studies. Through the model students can be taught to solve societal problems.
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