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1 – 10 of 96
Article
Publication date: 1 May 2001

Niels Ole Pors and Vilas Edwards

Gives an informed account of the authors’ experiences with different Tempus/Phare projects in East European countries. The paper is not therefore a scientific piece of research…

387

Abstract

Gives an informed account of the authors’ experiences with different Tempus/Phare projects in East European countries. The paper is not therefore a scientific piece of research but a reflection of experiences in dealing with colleagues from Hungary and Lithuania. Emphasises the benefits that Western institutions can obtain from participating in these types of projects and co‐operation. Also points out some of the difficulties. Gives an account of experiences with the East European Library scene and tries to underline the differences and dissimilarities. Overall, the paper is about the joys and the frustrations of international co‐operation.

Details

Library Management, vol. 22 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-5124

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 January 1998

Vilas Edwards

Lifelong learning is high on the Government's agenda. More than at any other time, there is a need for libraries from all sectors to work together, in particular to exploit the…

Abstract

Lifelong learning is high on the Government's agenda. More than at any other time, there is a need for libraries from all sectors to work together, in particular to exploit the potential of the National Grid for Learning to make information and learning accessible to many more people. In this article, Vilas Edwards describes the distinctive partnership between library services in the City of Sunderland to support learning communities, focusing on IT developments and in particular, the provision of a City‐wide electronic journals service.

Details

VINE, vol. 28 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0305-5728

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 11 February 2019

Meiju Marika Keinänen and Liisa Kairisto-Mertanen

The purpose of this paper is to present an example of pedagogical strategy, called innovation pedagogy, and study whether its learning environments (activating teaching and…

5676

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present an example of pedagogical strategy, called innovation pedagogy, and study whether its learning environments (activating teaching and learning methods, working life orientation and research, development and innovation (RDI) integration, multidisciplinary learning environments, flexible curricula, entrepreneurship and internationalization) can be associated with students’ innovation competences (creativity, critical thinking, initiative, teamwork and networking).

Design/methodology/approach

In this case study, the electronic self-assessment questionnaire was distributed to third- and fourth-year bachelor students (n=236) from one Finnish university of applied sciences at the end of the Spring semester in 2017.

Findings

Two profiles of students concerning their level of innovation competences can be identified. The level of students’ innovation competences is associated with all the six elements of learning environments. The more students have experience with learning environments of innovation pedagogy, the higher they scored when assessed for their innovation competences.

Research limitations/implications

Because of the case study setting and a limited sample, there are limitations to the generalizability of the findings.

Originality/value

Focusing on different levels of innovation competences of students and approaching their study path in more detail, it could be better understood how to develop more effective education, and thus, respond to the demands of an innovation society. This study extends approaches on research in education and innovation and strengthens the understanding that learning environments should be versatile and include many-sided learning opportunities. It also shows that implementing pedagogical strategy needs lot of work to be revealed in practice.

Details

Education + Training, vol. 61 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0040-0912

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 July 2022

Sandra Castro-González, Belén Bande and Guadalupe Vila-Vázquez

The purpose of this study is understanding how companies can improve sales force performance is a key issue. Despite this, the study of the impact that corporate social…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is understanding how companies can improve sales force performance is a key issue. Despite this, the study of the impact that corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices might have on salespeople’s performance has been neglected in the sales literature.

Design/methodology/approach

Using data provided by 176 salesperson–supervisor dyads and through structural equation modeling and conditional process analysis, empirical evidence confirms the hypotheses.

Findings

Certainly, the findings confirm that salespeople’s performance is influenced by their CSR perception, not directly but through their pride and organizational commitment. Furthermore, the results improve when considering the intervention of a responsible leader. The paper also identifies the management implications and makes some recommendations for upcoming studies.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to fill this gap by examining the effect of salespeople’s CSR perception on their job performance through organizational pride and organizational commitment. Additionally, it is suggested that the exercise of responsible leadership by the supervisor strengthens the previous indirect relationship, moderating the influence of salesperson’s organizational pride on their commitment.

Details

Social Responsibility Journal, vol. 19 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1747-1117

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 May 2012

Maria Margarida Melo de Carvalho and Caroline Elizabeth Dominguez

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the user's assessment of the level of quality of the library services of the Portuguese University of Trás‐os‐Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD…

1113

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the user's assessment of the level of quality of the library services of the Portuguese University of Trás‐os‐Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD) in order to identify its potential improvement.

Design/methodology/approach

Following a literature review on library service quality assessment focusing on the ServQual, Lib Qual, or Biqual conceptual tools, a survey was designed and applied to a sample of the UTAD library's users, and then subjected to statistical analysis.

Findings

The literature review on library quality service assessment points out an array of dimensions that must be taken into account. The conceptual tools recently developed for that assessment showed that the services provided by the UTAD library needed to be redefined in order to enhance its user's autonomy. The results of the survey follow the findings of the literature review and, in particular, show that for the UTAD case study: gender is an important variable to take into account; the access to new technologies and to its convenient use is of the outmost importance; and face to face relation between users and service providers must be deepened.

Practical implications

The data survey clearly indicates the areas in which UTAD library has to direct its efforts in order to improve the quality of its services and meet users' expectations.

Originality/value

The results opened up the way to future comparative investigations with other services provided by other university libraries.

Details

Library Management, vol. 33 no. 4/5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-5124

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 September 2019

Nazar Poritskiy, Flávio Oliveira and Fernando Almeida

The implementation of European data protection is a challenge for businesses and has imposed legal, technical and organizational changes for companies. This study aims to explore…

1455

Abstract

Purpose

The implementation of European data protection is a challenge for businesses and has imposed legal, technical and organizational changes for companies. This study aims to explore the benefits and challenges that companies operating in the information technology (IT) sector have experienced in applying the European data protection. Additionally, this study aims to explore whether the benefits and challenges faced by these companies were different considering their dimension and the state of implementation of the regulation.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopts a quantitative methodology, based on a survey conducted with Portuguese IT companies. The survey is composed of 30 questions divided into three sections, namely, control data; assessment; and benefits and challenges. The survey was created on Google Drive and distributed among Portuguese IT companies between March and April of 2019. The data were analyzed using the Stata software using descriptive and inferential analysis techniques using the ANOVA one-way test.

Findings

A total of 286 responses were received. The main benefits identified by the application of European data protection include increased confidence and legal clarification. On the other hand, the main challenges include the execution of audits to systems and processes and the application of the right to erasure. The findings allow us to conclude that the state of implementation of the general data protection regulation (GDPR), and the type of company are discriminating factors in the perception of benefits and challenges.

Research limitations/implications

This study has essentially practical implications. Based on the synthesis of the benefits and challenges posed by the adoption of European data protection, it is possible to assess the relative importance and impact of the benefits and challenges faced by companies in the IT sector. However, this study does not explore the type of challenges that are placed at each stage of the adoption of European data protection and does not take into account the specificities of the activities carried out by each of these companies.

Originality/value

The implementation of the GDPR is still in an initial phase. This study is pioneering in synthesizing the main benefits and challenges of its adoption considering the companies operating in the IT sector. Furthermore, this study explores the impact of the size of the company and the status of implementation of the GDPR on the perception of the established benefits and challenges.

Details

Digital Policy, Regulation and Governance, vol. 21 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2398-5038

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 15 May 2019

Laura-Maija Hero and Eila Lindfors

Collaboration between universities and industry is increasingly perceived as a vehicle to enhance innovation. Educational institutions are encouraged to build partnerships and…

14234

Abstract

Purpose

Collaboration between universities and industry is increasingly perceived as a vehicle to enhance innovation. Educational institutions are encouraged to build partnerships and multidisciplinary projects based around real-world open problems. Projects need to benefit student learning, not only the organisations looking for innovations. The context of this study is a multidisciplinary innovation project, as experienced by the students of an University of Applied Sciences in Finland. The purpose of this paper is to unfold students’ conceptions of the learning experience, to help teachers and curriculum designers to organise optimal conditions and processes, and support competence development. The research question was: How do students in higher professional education experience their learning in a multidisciplinary innovation project?

Design/methodology/approach

The study took a phenomenographic approach. The data were collected in the form of weekly diaries, maintained by the cultural management and social services students (n=74) in a mandatory multidisciplinary innovation project in professional higher education in Finland. The diary data were analysed using thematic inductive analysis.

Findings

The results of the study revealed that students’ understood the learning experience in relation to solvable conflicts and unusual situations they experienced during the project, while becoming aware of and claiming their collaborative agency and internalising phases of an innovation process. The competences as learning outcomes that students could name as developed related to content knowledge, different personal characteristics, social skills, emerging leadership skills, creativity, future orientation, social skills, technical, crafting and testing skills and innovation implementation-related skills, such as marketing, sales and entrepreneurship planning skills. However, future orientation and implementation planning skills showed more weakly than other variables in the data.

Practical implications

The findings suggest that curriculum design should enable networked, student-led and teacher supported pedagogical innovation processes that involve a whole path from future thinking and idea development through prototyping to implementation planning of the novel solution. Teachers promote deep comprehension of the innovation process, monitor and ease the pain of conflict if it threatens motivation, offer assessment tools and help in recognising gaps in individual competences and development needs, promote more future-oriented, concrete and implementable outcomes, and facilitate in bridging from innovation towards entrepreneurship planning.

Originality/value

The multidisciplinary innovation project described in this study provides a pedagogical way to connect higher education to the practises of society. These results provide encouraging findings for organising multidisciplinary project activities between education and working life. The paper, therefore, has significant value for teachers and entrepreneurship educators in designing curriculum and facilitating projects. The study promotes the dissemination of innovation development programmes in between education and work organisations also in other than technical and commercial fields.

Article
Publication date: 11 January 2013

Inês Carvalho Relva, Otília Monteiro Fernandes and Catarina Pinheiro Mota

Sibling violence is generally considered to be the most prevalent form of family violence. This paper aims to examine the association between sibling violence and other forms of…

Abstract

Purpose

Sibling violence is generally considered to be the most prevalent form of family violence. This paper aims to examine the association between sibling violence and other forms of violence: parent‐to‐parent violence, parent‐to‐child violence and dating violence.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from 590 Portuguese university students.

Findings

There was a strong positive association between sibling violence and other forms of family violence. Psychological and physical aggression is highly prevalent among siblings. Results also show that sibling violence is the most prevalent form of family violence. Regression models demonstrated that parent‐to‐child violence is a substantial predictor of sibling violence.

Originality/value

The results of this study point to the importance of studying the co‐occurrence of different forms of family violence.

Details

Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research, vol. 5 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1759-6599

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 31 August 2022

Silvia Lopes, Paulo C. Dias, Ana Sabino, Francisco Cesário and Ricardo Peixoto

The present study aims to examine the mediating role of (in)voluntariness in teleworking in explaining the relationship between employees’ fit to telework and work well-being…

Abstract

Purpose

The present study aims to examine the mediating role of (in)voluntariness in teleworking in explaining the relationship between employees’ fit to telework and work well-being (i.e. work engagement and exhaustion).

Design/methodology/approach

A cross-sectional survey design was used in this study. The sample comprised 222 individuals performing telework in Portugal. Statistical analyses employed were descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation, confirmatory factor and structural equation analyses, and mediation analysis using Hayes Process macro.

Findings

The findings confirmed the hypothesis that employees’ fit to telework raises the voluntariness in telework and decreases involuntariness in telework. However, contrary to expectations, no significant relationships were found between voluntariness in telework, work engagement and exhaustion. Yet, involuntariness in telework showed a significant role in decreasing work engagement and increasing workers’ exhaustion. The mediating role of involuntariness in telework was confirmed in explaining the relationship between employees’ fit to telework and exhaustion.

Practical implications

Managers in global firms can draw from the results to understand how employees’ fit to telework directly and/or indirectly contributes to work well-being and develop human resource (HR) management practices aiming to increase employees’ fit to telework.

Originality/value

Although teleworking is already studied, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no studies have analyzed the same conceptual model employees’ fit to telework, (in)voluntariness in teleworking and work well-being.

Details

Employee Relations: The International Journal, vol. 45 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0142-5455

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 November 2022

Xianbo Zhao

This study collected the bibliographic data of 2034 journal articles published in 2000–2021 from Web of Science (WoS) core collection database and adopted two bibliometric…

508

Abstract

Purpose

This study collected the bibliographic data of 2034 journal articles published in 2000–2021 from Web of Science (WoS) core collection database and adopted two bibliometric analysis methods, namely historiography and keyword co-occurrence, to identify the evolution trend of construction risk management (CRM) research topics.

Design/methodology/approach

CRM has been a key issue in construction management research, producing a big number of publications. This study aims to undertake a review of the global CRM research published from 2000 to 2021 and identify the evolution of the research topics relating to CRM.

Findings

This study found that risk analysis methods have shifted from simply ranking risks in terms of their relative importance or significance toward examining the interrelationships among risks, and that the objects of CRM research have shifted from generic construction projects toward specified types of construction projects (e.g. small projects, underground construction projects, green buildings and prefabricated projects). In addition, researchers tend to pay more attention to an individual risk category (e.g. political risk, safety risk and social risk) and integrate CRM into cost, time, quality, safety and environment management functions with the increasing adoption of various information and communication technologies.

Research limitations/implications

This study focused on the journal articles in English in WoS core collection database only, thus excluding the publications in other languages, not indexed by WoS and conference proceedings. In addition, the historiography focused on the top documents in terms of document strength and thus ignored the role of the documents whose strengths were a little lower than the threshold.

Originality/value

This review study is more inclusive than any prior reviews on CRM and overcomes the drawbacks of mere reliance on either bibliometric analysis results or subjective opinions. Revealing the evolution process of the CRM knowledge domain, this study provides an in-depth understanding of the CRM research and benefits industry practitioners and researchers.

Details

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, vol. 31 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-9988

Keywords

1 – 10 of 96