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1 – 4 of 4Swati Alok, Navya Kumar and Sudatta Banerjee
COVID-19 placed millions of employees under work-from-home/telework. Employers intend extending telework for the long-term, anticipating business benefits. But the benefits are…
Abstract
Purpose
COVID-19 placed millions of employees under work-from-home/telework. Employers intend extending telework for the long-term, anticipating business benefits. But the benefits are impacted by employees' well-being/ill-being, which is affected by the satisfaction of psychological needs. In turn, need satisfaction is influenced by employees' personal/job attributes. As work-from-home's blended environment disrupts routines, the satisfaction of the psychological need for structure or routines was examined in this study, along with the effect of personal/job attributes.
Design/methodology/approach
Cross-section primary data were collected from 500 teleworking information technology employees from India and analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling. Vigour and exhaustion represented well-being and ill-being. Telework self-efficacy, standardised job, technology assistance and supervisor social support were the determinants or personal/job attributes. Need for structure satisfaction was the mediator.
Findings
Telework self-efficacy, technology assistance and supervisor social support were positively associated with structure satisfaction. In turn, structure satisfaction was related positively with vigour and negatively with exhaustion, and thus mediated between personal/job attributes and vigour/exhaustion. Standardised job did not affect vigour, exhaustion or structure satisfaction.
Originality/value
Need for structure is mostly studied as a trait, with implications of greater/lesser preference for structure examined. However, this work acknowledges structure as a basic ubiquitous need. Everyone needs some structure. Hence, need for structure is researched from the novel perspective of its satisfaction. This paper also uniquely combines job demands–resources model which identifies personal/job attributes, with concepts of epistemic which posit the need for structure.
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Navya Kumar, Swati Alok and Sudatta Banerjee
Gender diversity is known to trigger creative and relationship conflicts alike, the former a boon for innovation and the latter a bane. This study aims to explore the possibility…
Abstract
Purpose
Gender diversity is known to trigger creative and relationship conflicts alike, the former a boon for innovation and the latter a bane. This study aims to explore the possibility of a gender mix that is “just right” for balancing the intensities of varied forms of conflict to boost innovation in firms in India. Specifically, this paper investigated the presence of an optimal level of women as a percentage of the firm’s full-time permanent employees (Percent-Women) that maximized the firm’s likelihood of product innovation (Product–Innovation–Likelihood).
Design/methodology/approach
Logistic regression analyses of firm-level data of Indian establishments of varied sizes and industries from World Bank Enterprise Surveys 2014 was performed. Instrumental variable addressed the potential endogeneity of Percent-Women.
Findings
The analysis demonstrated an inverted U-shaped relationship between Product–Innovation–Likelihood and Percent-Women. Product–Innovation–Likelihood peaked when Percent-Women lay between 35% and 58%, i.e. when the firm was gender-balanced or close to it.
Practical implications
The finding of an optimal level of female inclusion presents to firms a defined target of gender mix to be achieved, failing to which they may be limiting their innovation potential. It compels firms to view gender diversity as a business imperative with definite implications for their long-term performance.
Social implications
For India, the demonstrated relationship between workplace gender diversity and innovation brings additional reason and urgency to public initiatives, such as female literacy, for boosting female economic engagement. Innovation can power the next stage of the Indian growth story by engaging the heretofore insufficiently tapped female worker.
Originality/value
By demonstrating an optimal degree of female inclusion at which innovation potential peaks, the study reconciled opposing theories of diversity-driven conflicts and went beyond the commonly observed simple linear relationship between female inclusion and innovation. Further, the paper focused on India, a major developing economy with a vast female populace and growing innovation ambitions but scarcely researched for gender diversity’s role in innovation.
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Amaya Erro-Garcés, Angel Belzunegui-Eraso, María Inmaculada Pastor Gosálbez and Antonio López Peláez
Mutairu Oyewale Akintunde and Halimah Odunayo Amuda
This study aimed to predict and understand the academic libraries' probability of successful adoption of blockchain within the lens of integrated technology acceptance model (TAM…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aimed to predict and understand the academic libraries' probability of successful adoption of blockchain within the lens of integrated technology acceptance model (TAM) and technology organization and environment theory (TOE) framework.
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed approach was employed to gather data from librarians (292) and system analysts (46) totaling 338 respondents. The total enumeration sampling technique was considered. Qualitative data were analyzed thematically, while quantitative data were analyzed using structural equation model (SEM).
Findings
Perceived usefulness and policy are the important factors that influence academic libraries' blockchain adoption intentions. Unlimited access to both print and electronic resources, security of users' information and easy collaboration between users and library staff were found to be the benefits of blockchain application to academic libraries' operations. Major challenges to the adoption of blockchain in academic libraries include the cost of infrastructure related to blockchain applications, privacy issues and a lack of understanding of blockchain technology among librarians.
Research limitations/implications
Future studies would need to include more relevant items to the observed variables of the independent variables that were found insignificant in this study.
Practical implications
The findings of this study will create a roadmap for government and polytechnic management on the factors that could strengthen the adoption of blockchain in the libraries.
Social implications
The outcome of this study came at a crucial moment when the majority of academic libraries in developing nations like Nigeria were skeptical about the deployment of blockchain technology in their libraries.
Originality/value
The study identified new factors that influence blockchain adoption intention.
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