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1 – 10 of over 165000The purpose of this paper is to determine the importance of research setting in conflict research design. Research studies conducted in a university setting were compared to other…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to determine the importance of research setting in conflict research design. Research studies conducted in a university setting were compared to other research conducted in workplaces.
Design/methodology/approach
A meta‐analysis of 28 related papers was conducted to compute effect sizes of the linkages between task conflict, relationship conflict, satisfaction and performance. The impact of the research setting (i.e. university vs workplace) as a moderator was also tested.
Findings
The research setting was found to be a significant moderator of the linkage between task conflict and satisfaction, task conflict and performance as well as relationship conflict and performance. In each case of moderation, the effect sizes were much greater when research was conducted in the workplace than in a university setting.
Research limitations/implications
The findings suggest that research conducted in a university setting likely underestimated the impact of conflicts on the level of satisfaction and the degree of performance as compared to research conducted in a workplace setting.
Practical implications
The author proposes that more conflict studies should be conducted in a field setting. In addition, it is proposed that such studies include more often satisfaction and related variables in research design.
Originality/value
The majority of conflict research is conducted in a university setting (e.g. students doing a project for credit), under the assumption that the setting is a fair approximation of the workplace. The present study shows that this assumption might not be true.
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As settings‐based health promotion has gained ascendancy within the field, there has been increased interest in applying the approach within a diversity of contexts, one of the…
Abstract
As settings‐based health promotion has gained ascendancy within the field, there has been increased interest in applying the approach within a diversity of contexts, one of the most recent being higher education. The University of Central Lancashire became one of the first few universities in Europe to establish a Health Promoting University initiative when it appointed a co‐ordinator in 1995. This article critically discusses the emergence of the settings‐based approach to health promotion and its application to the higher education sector. Focusing on the University of Central Lancashire as a case study, it considers the development of Health Promoting Universities. It is argued that while the settings‐based approach still faces the challenge of establishing clarity and consistency, the Health Promoting University does have the potential to provide a robust conceptual framework that can enable the practical development and implementation of an holistic, comprehensive and integrative approach to promoting health. The article ends with some reflections on challenges, opportunities and future directions.
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Chaturika Priyadarshani Seneviratne and Zahirul Hoque
This study aims to explore the role of individuals’ habitus in an organization’s performance measurement practices. Habitus refers to how individuals with a particular background…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the role of individuals’ habitus in an organization’s performance measurement practices. Habitus refers to how individuals with a particular background perceive and react to the social world.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing from the habitus philosophy developed by Bourdieu in his practice theory (Bourdieu, 1977), this study used a qualitative research methodology involving face-to-face interviews, observations of performance evaluation meetings and examination of documents within a Sri Lankan public university.
Findings
The authors revealed the power of university individuals as they possess practical knowledge in their field where they operate to make effects in the practice of a performance measurement system (PMS). In addition, the research findings show that mutually opposing strategies, self-interests and individuals’ varied power relations collectively play a dominant role in deciding the practical operation of the PMS at the university.
Research limitations/implications
While this study is constrained to a Sri Lankan public university, its findings offer insights into how individuals within an organization can emerge as influential players in PMS practice.
Originality/value
The findings enhance the understanding of how PMS practice may operate beyond traditional, calculative and abstract forms in an organizational setting. Instead, individuals, as micro-level forces in a specific social space, shape organizational practices, such as PMS, in universities.
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Chanita Tantipoj, Narin Hiransuthikul, Sirirak Supa-amornkul, Vitool Lohsoonthorn and Siribang-on Piboonniyom Khovidhunkit
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is an important health problem throughout the world. Association between DM and oral diseases has been reported and dental clinic is indicated to be one of…
Abstract
Purpose
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is an important health problem throughout the world. Association between DM and oral diseases has been reported and dental clinic is indicated to be one of the suitable venues for the screening of DM. The purpose of this paper is to determine patients’ attitude toward DM screening in dental clinics.
Design/methodology/approach
The anonymous, self-administered questionnaires of five-point response scale questions were distributed to convenience samples of adult patients (⩾25 years) attending one of the dental settings. These dental settings were divided into the university/hospital-based dental clinics (encompassing two university-based and five hospital-based dental clinics) or the private dental clinics (encompassing two private, and one special (after office hour) clinic of a faculty of dentistry). The questions could be categorized into three groups regarding importance, willingness, and agreement of DM screening in dental settings. Results are presented as percentage by respondents based upon the number of responses for each question. The favorable outcomes which were defined as responses of either scale of 4 or 5 were also summarized according to dental settings. The χ2 test for comparison was used to compare the favorable outcomes between the two settings.
Findings
A total of 601 completed questionnaires were collected; 394 from university/hospital-based dental clinics and 207 from two private clinics and a special (after office hour) clinic of a faculty of dentistry. Overall, the majority of respondents in both university/hospital-based and private practice settings felt that it is important to have a dentist conduct a screening (84.8 vs 79.5 percent). The majority of patients in both groups were willing to receive blood pressure examination (95.0 vs 92.0 percent), weight and height measurements (94.7 vs 94.0 percent), saliva/oral fluid investigation (86.4 and 86.9 percent) and finger-stick blood test (83.8 vs 83.9 percent). More than 75 percent of all respondents agreed with diabetes screening in dental clinics.
Originality/value
The majority of respondents supported the screening of DM in dental settings and they were willing to have a screening test by the dentist. Patient acceptance is an important key to be successful in the screening of DM in dental settings.
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Anja P. Schmitz and Jan Foelsing
During the past decade, fast-paced changes created a new environment organisations need to adapt to in an agile way. To support their transformation, organisations are rethinking…
Abstract
During the past decade, fast-paced changes created a new environment organisations need to adapt to in an agile way. To support their transformation, organisations are rethinking their approach to learning. They are moving away from traditional instructor-centred, standardised classroom-based learning settings. Instead, learning needs to be tailored to the individuals’ needs, available anywhere at any time and needs to enable learners to build their network. The development of digital tools, specifically network technology and social collaboration platforms, has enabled these new learning concepts.
The use of these new learning concepts in organisations also has implications for higher education. The present case study, therefore, investigates how universities can best prepare future employees and leaders for these new working environments, both on a content level and a methodological level. It also investigates if these new learning concepts can support universities in dealing with a changing environment.
The investigated case is a traditional face-to-face leadership lecture for a heterogeneous group of students. It was reconceptualised as a personalised and social collaborative learning setting, delivered through a social collaboration platform as the primary learning environment. Initial evaluation results indicate positive motivational effects, experience sharing and changes in perception of the student − lecturer relationship. The findings also supported previous challenges of computer-supported collaborative learning settings, such as the perception of a higher cognitive load. The implications of these results for the future teaching and business models of higher education are discussed. In addition, the potential of these computer-supported social collaborative learning settings is outlined.
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Natapol Thongplew, Nadtaya Duangput and Sasimaporn Khodkham
This study aims to explore ways to minimize plate waste at university canteens by studying plate waste and consumers at three main canteens of a university, Thailand.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore ways to minimize plate waste at university canteens by studying plate waste and consumers at three main canteens of a university, Thailand.
Design/methodology/approach
Using university canteens in Thailand as a case, plate waste was characterized and quantified and consumers’ insights concerning food consumption practices were examined through focus group discussion.
Findings
The results revealed that each consumer wasted edible food around 19 grams/meal. The generation of plate waste is affected by the food provision system, including canteen setting, food purchasing procedure and food quality. In addition, the presence of stray dogs in the canteens inhibited consumers from finishing up their food. Thus, improving the food provision system is crucial to engage consumers in achieving zero plate waste.
Originality/value
This research sheds some light on ways to engage consumers in sustainable consumption and contributes to the knowledge on plate waste and sustainable consumption in university settings. Improving food quality and canteen settings are of importance to better engage consumers. In addition, this research revealed that concepts of system of provision and citizen-consumers are practical to analyze sustainable transformations for green university initiatives.
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Rehema Namono, Ambrose Kiplimo Kemboi and Joel Chepkwony
Although a burgeoning body of literature has established the influence of hope and employee creativity, the debate on the relative importance of hope and its components of pathway…
Abstract
Purpose
Although a burgeoning body of literature has established the influence of hope and employee creativity, the debate on the relative importance of hope and its components of pathway and agency on its outcomes has not been clarified. Literature has it that hope and its individual components of pathway and agency have a varying magnitude of influence on its outcomes. Some scholars argue that agency and pathway components better predict its outcomes than overall hope. The current study establishes the relative importance of hope and its components on creativity using evidence from Makerere University, Uganda.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopted a cross-sectional quantitative survey design to collect data from the academic staff of Makerere University. The study used usefulness analysis to establish the relative importance of the predictor variables on the dependent variable.
Findings
The study findings revealed that agency and hope components of hope significantly predicted creativity. Overall, hope also significantly predicted creativity. Regarding relative importance, hope turned out to be the most “useful” predictor of creativity, followed by its components of agency and pathway.
Research limitations/implications
The study was conducted in a public university setting located in urban areas. The findings may not be generalizable to private settings due to variations in the teacher's creative behaviour with variation in the creative environment. The study was also cross-sectional, which may not yield results of changing employee creativity over time. Further studies should establish the link between hope and creativity using a longitudinal survey to compare employee creativity using data collected at different intervals.
Originality/value
The value of the current study is both theoretical and empirical. Theoretically, the study findings enrich the hope theory by revealing the relative importance of hope on its outcomes over and above its components. The study also confirms the assertions of the dual pathway to creativity model by revealing that employees who are rich in hope components of agency and pathway have the cognitive flexibility to pursue creative goals and, when faced with failure, can generate alternative solutions to solve work problems.
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The University of Central Lancashire's ‘Health Promoting University’ initiative has adopted a ‘settings‐based’ approach to health promotion, aimed at embedding within the…
Abstract
The University of Central Lancashire's ‘Health Promoting University’ initiative has adopted a ‘settings‐based’ approach to health promotion, aimed at embedding within the organisation an understanding of and commitment to holistic health and to development of its healthpromoting potential. Action to promote mental well‐being is one of the initiative's priority foci, overseen by a multidisciplinary inter‐agency working group. Experience to date suggests that the university is an important setting for the protection, promotion and maintenance of mental well‐being. It also suggests that the Health Promoting University offers a robust theoretical framework that can enable the practical development and implementation of a holistic, comprehensive and integrative approach to promoting mental well‐being. This paper provides an overview of the Health Promoting University initiative, describes work carried out on mental well‐being and explores the challenges and opportunities involved in seeking to use the Health Promoting University framework to promote mental well‐being.
Joyce S. Osland, Ming Li, Martha Petrone and Mark E. Mendenhall
This paper summarizes the findings of the empirical papers in this volume and outlines future research directions for global leadership in general. We summarize the state of…
Abstract
This paper summarizes the findings of the empirical papers in this volume and outlines future research directions for global leadership in general. We summarize the state of global leadership development in universities and recommend design criteria for these efforts. Given the popularity of study abroad as an integral component in many global leadership programs, we highlight common challenges for study abroad programs and the importance of taking an organization development approach. We conclude with future directions for global leadership development research in university settings, most of which emerged from the featured papers on this topic in this volume of Advances in Global Leadership. It is our hope that this chapter serves as a primer for both university program directors and researchers.
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Emidia Vagnoni and Chiara Oppi
The purpose of this paper is to report on an action research project carried out in an Italian university hospital that was facing a strategic challenge. The role of intellectual…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to report on an action research project carried out in an Italian university hospital that was facing a strategic challenge. The role of intellectual capital (IC) for university hospital strategic management is discussed after developing and applying an IC framework to enhance the visualisation of strategic IC elements.
Design/methodology/approach
An action research process has been applied in the studied setting based on Susman and Evered’s (1978) definition of the engaged research cycle.
Findings
The action research process allowed a gap between theory and practice to be bridged; the strategic control process resulted supported by new measures; a different approach to strategy management was launched, and other organisations perceived the relevance of the IC representation and wished to import it.
Research limitations/implications
Research limitations are related to those recognised for the interventionist research approach.
Practical implications
The paper contributes to the improvement of managerial and accounting technologies for practitioners managing university hospitals and discusses a university hospital’s strategic goals.
Originality/value
The paper represents a methodological contribution related to the interventionist research stream of literature, and enriches the limited studies focused on IC in health care organisations. Furthermore, the paper enables appreciation of the role of academics in the convergence of theory and practice.
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