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This paper explores the profound philosophical and conceptual foundations that underpin comparative international education research, particularly concerning the evolving roles of universities and colleges that transcend mere skills training or human capital development in contemporary times. Universities and colleges have predominantly focused on measuring their success through criteria such as research excellence and their ability to adapt to the ever-evolving demands of the job market. It is imperative to recognize that the diversity of postsecondary institutions is not only providers of human capital with curriculum shaped by labor market needs; rather, they should be recognized as institutions dedicated to human development, community anchors, the promotion of the public good, democratic education, the cultivation of civil society, and global citizenship. Relying on an extensive review of selected literature pertaining to the mission, goals, aims, and roles of the postsecondary sector in three regions (East Asia, Germanic Europe, and North America), this paper considers the question, “How do different approaches and traditions in different social contexts contribute to our understanding of the civic roles of postsecondary education institutions in shaping future global citizens, transcending the confines of national boundaries?” Throughout the paper, the unique contexts and traditions of these regions are meticulously examined alongside thematic discussions, culminating in comprehensive analyses on what factors are considered as the civic roles of institutions and what challenges are there for them to realize their goals.

Megaproject supply chains involve multiple layers of stakeholders, leading to complex relationships and risks. The role of social interactions within these networks is unexplored. Therefore, an analysis of construction supply chain risk management from the perspective of social networks is essential to identify related stakeholders, their relationships and the social network risk factors.

About 65 risk factors, identified from literature and interviews, informed the development of a questionnaire for the study. Online questionnaires administered in Ghana and South Africa produced 120 valid responses. Feedback from the responses was ranked and assessed to determine the overall social network risk levels using the Normalised Mean and Fuzzy synthesis analysis methods.

About 24 risk factors were identified and classified into six groups: Client/Consultant-related, Community-related, Government-related, Industry Perception-related, Supplier-related and Stakeholder Opportunism. The top five social network risks identified include bribery, supplier monopoly, incomplete design teams, poor communication and lack of collaboration.

The study provides detailed evaluations of social network risks in Africa, and the findings will help in developing strategies to mitigate supply chain disruptions caused by these challenges.

This study contributes to the literature on supply chain risk management by offering context-specific insights into the social network perspective of megaprojects in Africa, which differs from those in developed countries.

This chapter explores the landscape of higher education in Singapore as the nation positions itself to emerge stronger after the pandemic. A focus on three major issues facing higher education − digital transformation, job readiness of graduates, and access to quality education, describes education-based initiatives for addressing these challenges in Singapore. Local autonomous universities are woven into the tapestry of sustainable growth and development within Singapore’s economy. Connections between the development of education-based initiatives are made to illustrate how these institutions of continuous learning are positioning for relevance considering current developments and to suggest some areas for enhancement for promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all.

Employee performance and job satisfaction are crucial factors that influence organizational success, particularly in the insurance industry. The advent of data-driven approaches has led to the emergence of Employee-Performance Data Management (EPDM) practices, which play a pivotal role in shaping employee outcomes. This study, with its clear focus on the impact of EPDM on job satisfaction within the insurance sector, aims to provide an understanding of this relationship, employing a positivist perspective grounded in existing theories.

The primary objective of this research is to investigate the influence of EPDM variables, such as data integration, technology integration, and ethical considerations, on job satisfaction among employees in the insurance industry.

We adopted a causal-comparative research design. This design allowed us to discern the cause-and-effect relationships among the variables under study. We collected data through structured questionnaires, ensuring a diverse sample of 415 employees across various job roles within the insurance sector. Our analytical framework encompassed multiple regression analysis, f-tests, t-tests, and calculations of means and standard deviations, all of which were used to rigorously assess the data.

Our study's findings have significant implications for the insurance industry. We found that aspects of EPDM variables, including data integration, technology integration, and ethical consideration, have a profound impact on job satisfaction. These results underscore the critical role of effective data management in enhancing employee outcomes. They also highlight the need for insurance companies to invest in robust data management strategies, potentially leading to improved job satisfaction and enhanced organizational performance.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of technical skills, soft skills and social mobility skills on the perceived employability of Malaysian undergraduates in energy-focused universities. This study also aims to investigate the moderating effects of academic performance on such relationships.

To accomplish these objectives, this study employed partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to analyse data obtained from 247 Malaysian undergraduates from public and private energy-focused universities across Malaysia. The Human Capital Theory served as the overarching theoretical framework for the study.

The study reveals that even if an undergraduate has stellar grades, they will not help him/her to land a job if they lack basic technical and computing skills. This study also indicates that undergraduates’ current academic performance affects their perceived employability despite already possessing the necessary soft skills. Along with academic performance, social mobility skills can be a determining factor in how graduates see their own employability. This is because social mobility has a significant impact on graduates’ chances of finding gainful employment.

This study provides insights into how technical skills, soft skills and social mobility skills influence the perceived employability of Malaysian undergraduates, especially in energy-focused universities, and the role of various parties involved. These parties, such as higher education institutions, are the key players that can initiate strategies to enhance specific skills and steer a public conversation towards a more methodical strategy for boosting graduates’ employability for future employment. This research also sheds light on how to better prepare for emerging job opportunities in the energy sector.

The study examines the effect of technical skills, soft skills and social mobility skills on the perceived employability of Malaysian undergraduates in energy-focused universities for future employment among Malaysia’s universities’ graduates. By providing a multidisciplinary viewpoint, this study paves the way for future research partnerships among experts in higher education, researchers in related fields and career researchers.

The purpose of this paper is to present a method that addresses the data sparsity problem in points of interest (POI) recommendation by introducing spatiotemporal context features based on location-based social network (LBSN) data. The objective is to improve the accuracy and effectiveness of POI recommendations by considering both spatial and temporal aspects.

To achieve this, the paper introduces a model that integrates the spatiotemporal context of POI records and spatiotemporal transition learning. The model uses graph convolutional embedding to embed spatiotemporal context information into feature vectors. Additionally, a recurrent neural network is used to represent the transitions of spatiotemporal context, effectively capturing the user’s spatiotemporal context and its changing trends. The proposed method combines long-term user preferences modeling with spatiotemporal context modeling to achieve POI recommendations based on a joint representation and transition of spatiotemporal context.

Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms existing methods. By incorporating spatiotemporal context features, the approach addresses the issue of incomplete modeling of spatiotemporal context features in POI recommendations. This leads to improved recommendation accuracy and alleviation of the data sparsity problem.

The research has practical implications for enhancing the recommendation systems used in various location-based applications. By incorporating spatiotemporal context, the proposed method can provide more relevant and personalized recommendations, improving the user experience and satisfaction.

The paper’s contribution lies in the incorporation of spatiotemporal context features into POI records, considering the joint representation and transition of spatiotemporal context. This novel approach fills the gap left by existing methods that typically separate spatial and temporal modeling. The research provides valuable insights into improving the effectiveness of POI recommendation systems by leveraging spatiotemporal information.

This study aims to explore the impact of engaging in serious leisure (SL) on the well-being (WB) and self-perceived employability (PE) of university students while also considering the role of career adaptability (CA) as a mediator.

A total of 905 domestic undergraduate students from China completed an online survey.

The findings reveal that participation in SL positively influences WB and PE. Additionally, the results indicate that CA mediates the SL-WB relationship but not the SL-PE relationship.

The theoretical contribution of this research comes from advancing our understanding of sustainable career theory through empirical testing of SL, PE, and CA on WB outcomes within a higher education setting. The practical implications of this study involve providing universities with strategies to support domestic Chinese undergraduate students in enhancing their WB and PE through active engagement in SL pursuits and the development of CA. Moreover, our findings serve as a foundation for future research investigating whether insights gained from domestic Chinese undergraduate students can provide solutions on a global scale to address the persistent challenges of improving student WB and PE.

Value, also known as co-creation, is recognized as the outcome of collaborative efforts between both parties. However, knowledge is currently limited regarding the motivations and mechanisms driving customers to engage in co-production and value co-creation. Therefore, the current study aims to investigate co-production in enhancing value co-creation. Previous research has predominantly explored the linear effects of commitment and asset specificity on co-production. To expand on this foundation, our study goes a step further by including the potential quadratic effects of commitment and asset specificity on co-production. Although moderate levels of commitment and asset specificity may enhance co-production, higher levels are implied to possibly impede it. Considering that co-production requires collaboration between customers and service employees, this study includes the characteristics of service employees, such as self-monitoring and self-efficacy, identifying their moderating roles in aiding active co-production and ultimately enhancing the value co-creation.

We employed linear, nonlinear and hierarchical moderated regression analysis to test our hypotheses.

Our findings provide evidence for the positive linear effects and negative quadratic effects between commitment, asset specificity and co-production. The inverted-U relationships suggest an existing optimal commitment and asset specificity that maximize co-production. Results also suggest that co-production influences value co-creation and self-efficacy and self-monitoring positively moderates the relationship between co-production and value co-creation.

By applying the core provisions of S-D logic, this study contributes to marketing literature by analyzing the dyadic process of co-production. Dyadic data collection from both customers and service employees provides a comprehensive understanding of the co-production process, allowing academics to recognize service employees’ self-efficacy and self-monitoring that contribute to effective co-production and value co-creation in service processes.

Based on the job-demands resources (JD-R) model and the self-determination theory (SDT), this paper aims to explore team empowerment (TEMP) as a mediating mechanism through which team climate (TC) marked by innovativeness, cohesion and trust and knowledge management (KM) in teams.

Using a convenience sampling method, data were gathered from 246 employees of Tunisian knowledge-intensive firms (KIFs) and involved within 69 R&D teams. The partial least square-structural equation modeling approach through SMART PLS 3.2 software was used to evaluate the constructs’ psychometric properties and hypotheses. The mediating effect in the model was evaluated through the non-parametric bootstrapping method.

Results highlight that TC marked by innovativeness, cohesion and trust represents a key team contextual antecedent promoting TEMP and KM in teams. In turn, TEMP, as a critical intrinsic task motivation factor, is revealed as a driver of KM practices. This research demonstrates that TEMP partially mediates the relationship between TC and KM in teams.

This study pioneers the examination of TEMP’s mediating role between a TC marked by innovativeness, trust and cohesion and KM. By applying insights from the JD-R model and SDT to team-level dynamics, it uniquely positions TEMP as an intrinsic motivational factor explaining the mechanism through which the contextual resources provided by a supportive TC promote KM practices. It provides practical insights for KIFs’ managers through highlighting how intrinsically motivated teams of knowledge workers, empowered by a cohesive, innovative and trust-based TC, can effectively navigate the challenges inherent in knowledge-intensive teamwork, leading to enhanced KM practices.