Search results

The purpose of this paper is to investigate Pakistani bank front-line employees’ intentions to behave ethically by using the extended theory of planned behaviour (ETPB) into which religiosity (i.e. religious activity, devotion to rituals and belief in doctrine) is integrated as a moderating variable.

The authors collected 234 self-administered questionnaires and analysed them using SmartPLS 2.0, a second generation structural equation modelling technique.

This paper demonstrates that the ETPB can explain intentions to behave ethically. Moral norms (i.e. the rules of morality that people believe they ought to follow) and perceived behavioural control (i.e. people’s perceptions of their ability to perform a given behaviour) are the best predictors of ethical behavioural intentions. The effects of injunctive norms (i.e. perceptions of which behaviours are typically approved or disapproved in an organisation) and of perceived behavioural control on behavioural intent are moderated by religiosity.

Leading by example, providing ethics training, empowering employees and encouraging the expression of religiosity are proposed as ways to foster an ethical culture in the workplace.

Even though numerous empirical studies have utilised variants of the theory of planned behaviour to explain consumer behaviour, its applicability to ethical behaviour in the workplace has scarcely been explored. Moreover, its tests in non-western contexts are scant. This study demonstrates the applicability of the ETPB in a broader circumstantial and cultural context and enriches it with religiosity, a pertinent characteristic of billions of people around the world. Finally, this is one of the very few ethics studies focusing on banking, an industry fraught with allegations of moral breaches.

A new digital image processing system for slow scan devices such as scanning electron microscopes has overcome current difficulties in inspecting components such as photoresist masks which, because of their insulating properties, affect the electron microscope picture.

The world stands on the threshold of a tantalizing opportunity: the possibility of a sustained economic boom over the first decades of the next millennium. This article outlines the confluence of forces – particularly the transition to a knowledge society, the emergence of a global economy and the pursuit of environmental sustainability – which could come together to propel huge improvements in wealth‐creating capacity and wellbeing world‐wide. The transition to a knowledge economy and society over the next few decades opens up the possibility of massive productivity gains. Equally significant, stimulus for a long boom could emerge from the creation of much more deeply integrated global markets for goods, services, capital and technology. Finally, the long boom could be sustained by a cooperative push to redirect the path of humanity’s relationship to the environment – a change entailing massive investments in new, less resource‐intensive patterns of consumption and methods of production. The unleashing of these dynamic forces hinges on two basic policy thrusts. First, economic dynamism in general and a long boom in particular will demand exceptional efforts – nationally and internationally – to encourage continuous innovation and high levels of investment. Second, with the prospects for a long boom contingent on the realization of a leap in the levels of international cooperation, decision makers will have to consider bold new approaches to negotiating and reconciling conflicting interests and divergent needs.

This paper uses Sims‐Granger causality to examine the causal relationships between (1) the money stock and income, and (2) the reserve money base and the money stock for India. These relationships are empirically investigated so as to determine the role of money in economic activity and the role and channels of monetary policy in a developing economy. Both the conventional regression method used by Sims and the more recent time‐series method developed by Box and Jenkins are utilised in the tests. The results indicate (a) that money does not play a causal role in economic activity while conventional money‐demand functions with income as the right‐hand side variable are vindicated, and (b) there is weak support for the Central Bank's alleged control over the money stock through control over the reserve money base. The differing nature of the results with respect to the two methods adopted point towards the sensitivity of the Sims‐Granger causality test to the type of filtering procedure chosen.

International sales negotiations are fast becoming a major part of the marketeer’s mandate in an increasingly globalised economy. To be successful in that role, managers need to be aware of the limits of acceptability of their behaviours, able to anticipate their counterparts’ actions and understand the motivations behind them. Presents a cross‐national study of 332 experienced sales negotiators’ perceptions in Australia, the USA, the UK, Japan, Russia and Greece. It explores the degree to which different tactics are considered morally acceptable in each country and how the decision‐making frameworks the managers employ affect their evaluation. The results demonstrate that, although moral acceptability of specific practices, the overall level of tolerance and the effect of each one of a set of decision‐making variables vary among different nationalities, the mechanism of the evaluation can be analysed by a single explanatory model.

Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) incorporates prevention of unplanned pregnancies, unsafe abortions, and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The sourcing, understanding and application of related information are important for health and this defines sexual and reproductive health literacy (SRHL). Health care utilization rates among Asylum Seekers and Refugees (ASRs) may not be high and they are unlikely to seek sufficient SRH information and care in their host countries, leaving some needs unmet. No SRHL research related to Scotland’s Asylum Seeking and Refugee Women (ASRW) exists. In this qualitative study, the purpose of this paper is to explore the SRHL-related views and experiences of adult ASRW living in Glasgow and their views on assistance required to improve their SRHL.

In total, 14 semi-structured interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed and qualitative thematic analysis employed.

Five themes and 13 sub-themes with four key findings highlighted: experience of unmet SRHL needs, similarities and differences in the source of SRH information, SRH views and behaviours influenced by cultural and religious factors, barriers and facilitators to accessing SRH information/care and developing SRHL.

This was a small scale qualitative study affording limited transferability. The work addressed a highly sensitive topic among women from conservative home country cultures.

Routine collection of sexual and reproductive health data by the NHS should be explored for this group. NHS staff should be aware of the rights of asylum seekers, Refugees and failed asylum seekers, to NHS healthcare free at the point of delivery in Scotland (National Health Service, 2019; Scottish Government, 2018), and be well trained in the likely religious and cultural norms of these groups. Host communities should consider improving access to SRH information and care in ASRWs first languages.

The study identified weaknesses in the opportunities for social integration afforded this group and the coordination of existing social opportunities. The stigmatization of immigrants in the UK is well understood and has repercussions for many individuals and societal organizations implicated in the promotion of this.

This paper addresses a very sensitive topic with women from conservative cultures. With few publications in this area, and none pertaining to Scotland, the paper makes a small but original contribution that might be considered a starting point for researchers and relevant services in Scotland.

Computers and computer‐assisted instruction are being used with increasing frequency in the area of health science student education, yet students’ attitudes towards the use of e‐learning technology and computer‐assisted instruction have received limited attention to date. The purpose of this study was to investigate the significant predictors of health science students’ attitudes towards e‐learning and computer‐assisted instruction. All students enrolled in health science programmes (n=2885) at a large multi‐campus Australian university in 2006‐2007, were asked to complete a questionnaire. This included the Online Learning Environment Survey (OLES), the Computer Attitude Survey (CAS), and the Attitude Toward Computer‐Assisted Instruction Semantic Differential Scale (ATCAISDS). A multiple linear regression analysis was used to determine the significant predictors of health science students’ attitudes to e‐learning. The Attitude Toward Computers in General (CASg) and the Attitude Toward Computers in Education (CASe) subscales from the CAS were the dependent (criterion) variables for the regression analysis. A total of 822 usable questionnaires were returned, accounting for a 29.5 per cent response rate. Three significant predictors of CASg and five significant predictors of CASe were found. Respondents’ age and OLES Equity were found to be predictors on both CAS scales. Health science educators need to take the age of students and the extent to which students perceive that they are treated equally by a teacher/tutor/instructor (equity) into consideration when looking at determinants of students’ attitudes towards e‐learning and technology.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze an integrated marketing model that includes operations in the real and virtual worlds.

The authors selected a marketing campaign conducted by a real world enterprise (Tourism Dublin) and examined the virtual world business (Virtual Dublin) model through that lens.

At the “slope of enlightenment” stage of the Gartner technology hype cycle, it is found that Second Life offers value for its business clients who understand the use of an immersive virtual experience as part of a strategic marketing program.

The paper shows that strategic use of a simulation that provides an immersive experience, such as the virtual exploration of a tourist destination, as part of an integrated marketing program can deliver tangible results and add value to a marketing campaign.

With a range of products and services that were previously inaccessible before purchase, consumers can “try before they buy” in a virtual environment such as Second Life.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first case study to examine the business model of a company operating in Second Life (a virtual world) that sells the value of an immersive customer experience as an important part of an integrated marketing communications program.

The paper aims to be a first step toward the efficient, yet accurate, solution of detailed combustion fields using the lattice Boltzmann (LB) method, where applications are still limited due to both the stiffness of the governing equations and the large amount of fields to solve.

The suggested methodology for model reduction is developed in the setting of slow invariant manifold construction, including details of the while. The simplest LB equation is used in order to work out the procedure of coupling of the reduced model with the flow solver.

The proposed method is validated with the 2D simulation of a premixed laminar flame in the hydrogen‐air mixture, where a remarkable computational speedup and memory saving are demonstrated.

Because of the chosen detailed LB model, the flow field may be described with unsatisfactory accuracy: this motivates further investigation in this direction in the near future.

A new framework of simulation of reactive flows is available, based on a coupling between accurate reduced reaction mechanism and the LB representation of the flow phenomena. Hence, the paper includes implications on how to perform accurate reactive flow simulations at a fraction of the cost required in the detailed model.

This paper meets an increasing need to have efficient and accurate numerical tools for modelling complex phenomena, such as pollutant formation during combustion.

The purpose of this study is to explore business students' views about using ePortfolios at Victoria University (VU) in Melbourne. It also examines the extent to which students present ePortfolios to prospective employers in applying for jobs.

This paper draws on the literature on ePortfolio use and the role of ePortfolios in the recruitment process together with results from an online survey of Professional Development students about the use of ePortfolios and the PebblePad platform.

An analysis of online responses examines student views about the usefulness of ePortfolios, the PebblePad platform, and the relevance of an ePortfolio assessment task. The findings suggest that few students use or expect to use ePortfolios beyond the assessment requirements and highlight students' polarised views about the usefulness of PebblePad.

VU's Business Faculty needs to adopt a whole‐of‐course approach to embedding ePortfolios in the curriculum.

At VU, ePortfolios are promoted to students as a personal learning system and as a creative means of communicating their employability skills. The findings suggest a need to review how ePortfolios are used, promoted and assessed in VU's programs.

EPortfolios offer a structured, digital space where students can present evidence of employability skills and reflective capacity. While VU's Business students develop an ePortfolio to showcase their skills in one mandatory subject, ePortfolios must be better promoted as offering a medium for students to develop, store, and creatively present themselves to potential employers in a whole‐of‐course approach.