Search results

This study is a theory-building effort to extend the risk perception attitude (RPA) framework by considering an organization-related factor. Specifically, this study examined how an organization-related factor, namely safety climate, and individual-related factors, namely risk perception and efficacy belief, jointly influence flight attendants’ occupational health and safety (OHS) information seeking intent.

About 486 flight attendants from an international air carrier, based in Hong Kong, participated in an online survey. Hierarchical regression was employed to examine the three-way interaction of risk perception, efficacy belief, and safety climate.

Results showed that safety climate moderated the effect of efficacy belief on the relationship between risk perception and OHS information seeking intent. For flight attendants who perceived a high safety climate, those who felt more efficacious had a higher intent for OHS information seeking than those who felt less efficacious. In contrast, for flight attendants who perceived a low safety climate, when they perceived a high level of risk, those with low efficacy had a higher information seeking intent than those with high efficacy.

Although the RPA framework has shown its potential to explicate how individual employees engage in OHS information seeking behavior, the framework has largely overlooked the importance of organization-related factors as an influential shaping force of individual employees’ behavior. To fill this research gap, this study extends the RPA framework by examining how safety climate moderates the relationship between risk perception and efficacy belief on flight attendants’ OHS information seeking intent. Safety climate also plays an important role in segmenting audience groups for OHS promotion.

In this introductory chapter, we collaborate on how digital transformation (DT) supports a value-driven educational approach, emphasizing the need for regular assessments of stakeholder needs, enhancing students' abilities to solve complex problems, applying learned knowledge effectively, nurturing creativity, and boosting employment prospects through skill development. Strategic considerations for implementing DT include creating a shared vision through collaborative strategy development, establishing clear objectives, designing a detailed action plan for DT initiatives, encouraging active participation from all educational community members, and maintaining the DT strategy through continuous evaluation and adaptation. By interweaving DT with these strategic educational priorities, higher education institutions can not only improve the learning experience but also equip students to succeed in a rapidly evolving future.

The evolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in higher education marks a paradigm shift, driving significant changes in pedagogical approaches and learning methodologies. With the rise of generative AI and artificial general intelligence (AGI), institutions have witnessed a transformative era where traditional content creation and delivery are being redefined. Start-ups like OpenAI and Anthropic have been at the forefront, offering tools like ChatGPT and Claude-3, which reshape natural language processing and forecast a future where AI integrations are seamless and pervasive. This chapter provides a critical overview of the current AI-driven applications enhancing personalized learning, content generation, and remote learning. Tools such as Mainstay, CourseGenie, and AIDES demonstrate AI's capacity to improve student engagement and success rates, while Degreed and Gnowbe showcase the broadening horizons of AI in skills building and microlearning experiences. Furthermore, platforms like Elicit and Research Rabbit exemplify the transformation in research and academic writing, albeit not without raising ethical concerns. In conclusion, AI's permanence in the educational landscape is unquestionable, calling for strategic frameworks that empower educators and students to harness its benefits effectively. The imminent expansion of the AI tool ecosystem necessitates preparedness for substantial shifts in educational practices, where ethical considerations and value-based strategies become paramount. Higher education institutions must align with this technological momentum, ensuring AI's potential is maximized in an ethical, inclusive, and impactful manner.

The dawn of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in higher education (HE) is not just on the horizon; it's here, promising a transformative leap forward. This shift is not simply about adopting new technologies; it's about redefining educational paradigms to meet specific challenges – from enhancing support and critical thinking to improving outcomes and fostering teamwork. This chapter outlines a comprehensive strategy to integrate AI into HE, spotlighting personalized learning, content generation, and remote learning, among others, as key domains ripe for AI's influence. An effective AI strategy will foster excellence and enable HE institutions to unlock the potential of technology for students and faculty alike. At its core, the proposed AI development strategy targets five critical areas: training, career growth, skill enhancement, learning, and team building. These areas ensure that all HE community members are well-equipped to navigate the AI-enhanced landscape of future jobs and challenges. However, realizing the full benefits of AI transcends the deployment of tools and systems; it requires strategic planning, investment in people, and policy changes. HE must cultivate champions to spearhead this transformation, emphasizing that success is not just measured in output but in the cultivation of socially responsible citizens. To harness AI's full capacity, we must transcend outdated stereotypes and metrics, fostering an educational environment that prepares students for the future. The ultimate goal is not just to integrate AI into HE but to use it as a catalyst for growth, innovation, and a better future for all.

This chapter delves into the pivotal role of digital transformation (DT) strategies in fostering educational innovation, particularly through the lens of transformative learning (TL). By outlining a five-stage TL model, we explore how DT strategies can not only support but also significantly enhance educational reforms. Actions and multipliers, constituting the core elements of this model, interact dynamically to advance TL within academic institutions. Actions, such as strategic initiatives and the development of learning environments, account for the tangible steps toward transformation. Meanwhile, multipliers amplify these efforts, emphasizing the importance of strategy, commitment and the sustainable impact of educational transformations. We also highlight the emerging influence of artificial intelligence (AI) in reshaping learning contexts, demonstrating its capacity to personalize learning experiences and foster problem-solving skills. Additionally, we envision the future trajectory of higher education (HE) toward 2035, emphasizing the integration of AI and DT in creating a responsive and adaptive educational ecosystem. This chapter argues that DT is not just a tool but also a catalyst for active and transformative learning, proposing a holistic approach to integrating technology in education that addresses current challenges and anticipates future needs.

This research investigates the barriers for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) adoption among the patients in India. Despite the established role of CAM in the Indian healthcare system for several years, the WHO (WHO) reports limited adoption of these therapies among Indian patients. This study investigates the key barriers toward wider CAM use within the Indian context.

This study used a combined interpretive structural modeling (ISM)-MICMAC approach to identify barriers to CAM usage. In the first phase, a comprehensive literature review was conducted to understand the barriers. Subsequently, experts in the Indian healthcare system were identified and interviewed to capture the contextual intricacies of these barriers within the Indian context.

The study identified ten key barriers to CAM adoption through ISM. A hierarchical model was developed to understand the relationships and interactions among these barriers, revealing their linkages. A MICMAC chart was created to determine the driving and dependent power of the barriers, categorizing them as dependent barriers, linkage barriers or independent barriers. The House of CAM framework was then derived from the ISM-MICMAC analysis, providing a structured, sequential approach for CAM adoption.

The awareness of the potential benefits and usage of CAM is significantly low among Indian patients. There is a pressing need to investigate and systematically conceptualize the barriers to CAM adoption. This research provides valuable insights for policymakers, insurers, practitioners of alternative and complementary medicine, multi-specialty hospitals offering CAM services and regulatory bodies. Understanding these barriers will enable these stakeholders to develop and implement strategies that effectively address these issues.

This research makes substantial contributions to the understanding of barriers to the adoption of CAM. Through a comprehensive investigation, the study introduces the House of CAM framework developed using ISM-MICMAC analysis, providing a strategic approach for targeted intervention against identified barriers.

This study examines the moderating role of female directors on the relationship between the firms’ characteristics and tax avoidance in an emerging economy.

This study employs the second-generation unit root test and the generalised method of moments (GMM) techniques. The Kao residual cointegration test corroborates a long-run cointegration among variables.

Female directors demonstrate mixed and unusual findings. No significant impact of female directors on tax avoidance is found. In addition, the presence of female directors does not show any negative or significant moderating impacts on the relationship between leverage, firm age, board size and tax avoidance. However, having more female directors can negatively and significantly moderate the relationship between more profitable firms, larger firms and tax avoidance. These findings show that the board of directors could use the presence of female directors to maximise their opportunistic behaviour, such as to avoid tax.

Research limitations – The study is limited by considering only 62 listed firms. The scope could be extended to include non-listed firms.

Research implications – There is increasing pressure for female directors on boards from diverse stakeholders, such as the European Commission, national governments, politicians, employer lobby groups, shareholders, and Fortune and Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) rankings. This study provides input to decision-makers putting gender quota laws into practice. Our findings can help policy-makers adopt regulatory reforms to control tax avoidance practices and enhance organisational legitimacy. Policymakers can change their policy to include female directors up to the threshold suggested by the critical mass theory.

This is the first attempt in Bangladesh to explore the role of female directors in the relationship between the firms' characteristics and tax avoidance. The current study has significant ramifications for bringing gender diversity into practice as a component of good corporate governance.

This study aims to analyze online responses to gain insights into public attitudes and concerns regarding traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) among Hong Kong residents. By addressing gaps in understanding public sentiment, this study contributes to the development of effective health-care policies.

Responses were collected from Baby-Kingdom.com using Python, gathering 17,568 TCM-related comments from 2016 to 2023. Analysis involved an eight-theme codebook and sentiment and semantic network analyses with DiVoMiner.

Most responses expressed positive sentiments and attitudes toward TCM. The analysis revealed recurring topics related to conditioning and specific diseases, including gynecological problems. Clinic service quality, fair pricing and convenient locations were also highlighted.

This study examines the networked public sphere and the Theory of Planned Behavior regarding TCM, emphasizing online forums’ impact on attitudes and highlighting gaps in service access, using big data and an interdisciplinary approach.

The findings of this study from Baby-Kingdom.com emphasize the need to improve the accessibility of TCM-related discussions. An official platform for professionals is proposed, with government support for reliable information and partnerships with local universities to expand services.

This study provides valuable insights into the popularity of TCM in Hong Kong, which may encourage uptake and use of TCM services in the health-care sector in not only Hong Kong but also the Greater Bay Area, China and potentially other countries in the future.

This research aims to empirically examine perceived predictive relationships between the use of project management tools and techniques (PMTTs) and resulting project-level and firm-level performance.

This study used data gathered from 190 project management professionals engaged in strategic projects. Data were collected using a survey tool that drew on prior project management research studies and asked about the use of 49 PMTTs. The conceptual model hypothesized positive relationships between the use of PMTTs and the project management outcomes, project-level performance and firm-level performance. Hypotheses were tested using PMTT components extracted through an exploratory factor analysis of the PMTTs as independent variables and project and firm performance as dependent variables. Six factors that emerged as independent variables (subsets of PMTTs) were labeled per managerial focus (e.g. quality management and cost management). The extracted dependent variables were one factor representing project-level performance and one factor representing firm-level performance. The hypothesized relationships between independent and dependent variables were tested using linear regression analysis.

PMTTs were found to contribute positively to project management outcomes, both project-level performance and firm-level performance. For the sample of strategic projects considered, practices used for time and resource planning, quality management and supplier management were found to positively and significantly impact project-level performance. Practices used for time and resource planning and scope management of tasks and interdependencies were found to positively and significantly impact firm-level performance. Practices used for cost management and risk management were not found to have a significant impact on project management outcomes for the sample of strategic projects studied.

This study validates the positive relationship between the use of PMTTs and both project-level and firm-level performance. It also suggests that while there is a collective of PMTTs that are considered standard practice, some PMTTs may more significantly predict project management performance than others in specific project and organizational contexts.

The study used a survey tool that draws on prior research and collected a new dataset on strategic projects to contribute to understanding the importance of different subsets of PMTTs for both project success and a firm’s competitive advantage.

Using an international sample of firms affiliated with a business group, this paper aims to investigate the audit quality of common auditors, i.e. auditors shared by multiple firms affiliated with the same business group.

This paper utilizes a large sample of group-affiliated firms from 35 regions. Following the frameworks of DeFond and Zhang (2014) and Fung et al. (2017), this paper measures audit quality using the absolute value of abnormal accruals and modified audit opinions. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression is used to address the research question.

The findings demonstrate that audit quality improves for firms that share the same auditor with other group members. Importantly, cross-country analyses reveal that this relationship is stronger when auditors operate in countries with stricter local auditor inspection programs and an overall opaque information environment. Additionally, the impact of common auditors on audit quality is more pronounced for group affiliates that have a more opaque firm-level information environment and are monitored by heightened institutional ownership.

While affiliates are more likely to select the same audit firms as common auditors, the evidence regarding the effects of common auditors is mixed. The results of this study provide further insights into auditor choices for group-affiliated firms and offer a potential avenue for better protecting shareholders' interests.

The results of this study add to the ongoing debates regarding the costs and benefits of common auditor choice for group affiliates. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to demonstrate that the effects of common auditors may vary in different external environments.