Qudsia Jabeen, Muhammadi Sabra Nadeem, Muhammad Mustafa Raziq and John Lewis Rice
This study examines the impact of career competencies (CC) (in the form of personal resources) on sustainable employability (SE) under the tenets of the Conservation of Resources…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines the impact of career competencies (CC) (in the form of personal resources) on sustainable employability (SE) under the tenets of the Conservation of Resources theory. Further, we assess the moderating impact of coworker support and supervisor support (work-related social resources) in this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected using survey method from 362 doctors employed in private hospitals in Pakistan. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM).
Findings
The results suggests a significant influence of CC on SE. Further, results also reveal that social support received from coworkers moderates the relationship between CC and SE. However, we find that supervisor support does not moderate the said relationship.
Originality/value
This research has clear novelty as SE is a recently defined construct and is still an area with insufficient empirical research. There is increasing interest in identifying the determinants and underlying mechanism of SE. Thus, this study makes contributions to knowledge by investigating CC and social resources as antecedents of SE. This study also offers implications for theory generally, and within the medical practitioner context more specifically.
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Samuel Kwabena Chaa Kyire, Richard Kwasi Bannor, John K.M. Kuwornu and Helena Oppong-Kyeremeh
Credit is essential in the farm business because it facilitates the adoption of productive technologies such as irrigation. However, access to credit remains a significant hurdle…
Abstract
Purpose
Credit is essential in the farm business because it facilitates the adoption of productive technologies such as irrigation. However, access to credit remains a significant hurdle for sub-Saharan Africa, including Ghanaian farmers. Therefore, the authors assessed credit utilization and the intensity of borrowing by irrigated rice farmers in the Upper East region. In addition, how extension moderates the amount borrowed was analysed.
Design/methodology/approach
The multistage sampling approach was used in the study. The Tono and Vea irrigation schemes were purposively selected. Proportionally, 318 rice farmers were sampled from the Tono irrigation scheme and 159 from the Vea irrigation scheme. Cragg's double hurdle and moderation analysis were used.
Findings
It was uncovered that gender, age, years of farming, total farm size, rice farm size, contract farming and off-farm employment explain farmers' decision to borrow. On the other hand, the intensity of borrowing was influenced by gender, age, years of farming, rice farm size, contract farming and the number of extension contact. The moderation analysis revealed that extension contact improves the amount borrowed by farmers.
Research limitations/implications
While there are irrigated rice farmers in other regions of Ghana, this study was limited to rice farmers under the Tono and Vea Irrigation schemes in the Upper East region.
Originality/value
This study investigated the moderating role of extension contact on amount borrowed in Ghana. This makes a modest addition to the limited literature on the moderating role of extension and credit access.
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Kayla Alaniz, William R. King, Joseph Schafer, William Wells and John Jarvis
The purpose of this paper was to examine how mid- and upper-level police commanders' occupational perceptions shifted after the COVID-19 pandemic, upsurge in police protests, and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper was to examine how mid- and upper-level police commanders' occupational perceptions shifted after the COVID-19 pandemic, upsurge in police protests, and perceived crime increases in 2020. We assess the extent to which these events altered police leaders' perceptions of stress, satisfaction, burnout and turnover intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employs repeated cross-sectional survey data of over 900 police leaders who attended the FBI’s National Academy (FBINA) program. Respondents are distinguished by whether they attended the FBINA program before or after operations were suspended due to COVID-19. Bivariate tests were conducted to compare pre- and post-respondents' perceptions of stress, satisfaction, burnout and turnover intentions.
Findings
The findings indicate that post-pandemic respondents had higher turnover intentions than pre-pandemic respondents. The groups had no significant differences regarding stress, satisfaction and burnout perceptions.
Research limitations/implications
The findings suggest that despite facing a global pandemic, police protests and perceived increases in crime, police leaders demonstrated high stability and resiliency. The data comprised law enforcement leaders who participated in the FBINA program; thus, the findings may not be generalizable to all officers.
Originality/value
This study is one of the first to assess changes in police leaders’ work perceptions following the COVID-19 pandemic, the rise in police protests and perceived increases in crime in 2020.
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Guoli Pu and Weiting Qiao
Given the sudden disruption caused by COVID-19, knowledge sharing between organizations has become a meaningful way to improve supply chain resilience. However, there is still a…
Abstract
Purpose
Given the sudden disruption caused by COVID-19, knowledge sharing between organizations has become a meaningful way to improve supply chain resilience. However, there is still a lack of in-depth research on how to reduce the threat to knowledge sharing caused by increased levels of relational risk. With the emergence of new digital technologies, whether blockchain governance can control relational risk and replace traditional relational governance remains to be demonstrated.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a cross-sectional survey approach in which quantitative data are collected from 300 participants from Chinese manufacturing enterprises to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The results show that relational and blockchain governance can significantly and complementarily reduce the level of relational risk in knowledge sharing. When the relational risk is at a low, medium or high level, the best matches of relational and blockchain governance are low-level relational governance–low-level blockchain governance, high-level relational governance–low-level blockchain governance and high-level relational governance–high-level blockchain governance, respectively.
Practical implications
The findings of this study have important practical implications for manufacturing enterprises in terms of how to choose reasonable governance modes to manage relational risk behaviour according to different relational risk levels to better understand the positive role of knowledge sharing in supply chain resilience.
Originality/value
The antecedent variables of knowledge sharing in previous studies are based on transaction cost theory or relational theory and have not moved beyond the original theoretical framework. This paper addresses this limitation, puts knowledge sharing in the academic context of digital technology, considers blockchain governance into the process of relational risk-knowledge sharing and defines blockchain governance, which is a novel approach in the supply chain resilience management literature.
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This review aims to present the problems facing the rubber industry, including a shortage of raw materials such as fillers and ways to overcome them by finding renewable…
Abstract
Purpose
This review aims to present the problems facing the rubber industry, including a shortage of raw materials such as fillers and ways to overcome them by finding renewable, environmentally friendly natural alternatives that can be used as fillers in the rubber industry, with the aim of preserving the environment from pollution and reducing the cost of products. This research also presents new varieties of eco-friendly and renewable fillers for rubber composites including agricultural waste, biochar and biofiller and also presents methods of treating them to improve the mechanical properties of the composites.
Design/methodology/approach
Agricultural waste is a sustainable energy resource that possesses various potential applications, such as its utilization in the production of construction materials and multifunctional components for automobiles. Researchers have focused on how to channel agricultural waste fibers into valuable materials while preserving environmental and human health by considering their potential for industrial use. These fillers have an excellent chance to replace or supplement the current carbon black derived from petroleum or the undesirable bulky mineral fillers. To improve the efficiency of waste natural fibers in rubber composites, several types of surface treatment techniques have been investigated including alkaline treatment, silane treatment and permanganate treatment.
Findings
Adding 10 phr of cereal straw to natural rubber increases the tensile strength and hardness compared to blank natural rubber, as the tensile strength increased from 13.53 MPa for natural rubber to 15.3 for rubber containing 10 phr of untreated cereal straw filler and became 19.6 MPa in the case of using filler treated with peroxide. Also, tensile strength, tensile modulus and elongation at break of the kenaf fiber-filled natural rubber composites are higher for composites with silane coupling agent. The utilization of sustainable biofillers as reinforcement in rubber composites has shown promising results in enhancing the performance of tires and other rubber products.
Originality/value
This review presents a new approach to evaluating the effect of using eco-friendly and sustainable reinforcing fillers for the rubber industry to preserve the environment and reduce production costs.