Naif Alghamdi, Alexandra den Heijer and Hans de Jonge
The purpose of this paper is to analyse 12 assessment tools of sustainability in universities and develop the structure and the contents of these tools to be more intelligible…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse 12 assessment tools of sustainability in universities and develop the structure and the contents of these tools to be more intelligible. The configuration of the tools reviewed highlight indicators that clearly communicate only the essential information. This paper explores how the theoretical concept of a sustainable university is translated into more measurable variables to support practitioners and academics in assessing sustainability in universities.
Design/methodology/approach
The main method for this paper was a desk study approach, which incorporated reviewing research papers, graduate theses, academic books, network platforms and websites.
Findings
The tools reviewed share similar traits in terms of criteria, sub-criteria and indicators. Five benchmarks are essential for a holistic framework: management; academia; environment; engagement and innovation.
Practical implications
This research can not only be used to improve existing assessment tools but also as a means to develop new tools tailored for universities that face a variety of challenges and lack the ability to measure their sustainability policies.
Social implications
Making higher education more sustainable through all the criteria mentioned influences students, as well as staff, to maintain a culture of sustainability.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature by simplifying and detailing the structure and contents of the tools in a way which indicators are shown, giving a full picture of these tools to enable universities to be more aware of the sustainability issues that affect them.
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This study investigated the effect of cooperative learning on the performance of female college students enrolled in “writing and research” courses at Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd…
Abstract
This study investigated the effect of cooperative learning on the performance of female college students enrolled in “writing and research” courses at Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University (Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia). Cooperative learning (CL) activities were employed in place of traditional lectures and group activities. Two populations were compared, one with the CL methodology and one with traditional methodology. The results were assessed by final exam scores, final course grades, the number of students passing, pre and post-tests and a self-report survey. We found that this sample of Arab college students performed at a higher level in the CL classes than in the traditional classes. Findings suggest that CL is an effective method for teaching Arab college students.
Muhammad Zahid, Haseeb Ur Rahman, Wajahat Ali, Muhammad Nauman Habib and Fazaila Shad
The integration of sustainability is more matured in the corporate sector. However, the topic received less attention in higher education institutions (HEIs). Therefore, this…
Abstract
Purpose
The integration of sustainability is more matured in the corporate sector. However, the topic received less attention in higher education institutions (HEIs). Therefore, this study aims to conceptualize an integration framework and proposes sustainability integration and implementation index in the HEIs.
Design/methodology/approach
The index was developed from previous literature. For the implementation of the index, three universities were selected. The required data collected from websites, internal documents and interviews with the high officials of these universities.
Findings
Sample universities have somehow inclination toward the broad agenda of sustainable development, but still, they lack integration, implementation and reporting of their sustainable practices. Moreover, the departments have positive and practical intent toward sustainability especially regarding the environment, designing curriculum, teaching, research activities and volunteerism. However, in assessment, the social and economic contributions of these universities revealed to be somewhat mild. The findings also evidenced heterogeneity among the sample institutions to follow the said agenda which reflects a lack of awareness and policy or a centralized or regulatory push from the top.
Research limitations/implications
The study is limited to three universities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Hence, in the future, the framework and index may be tested in other universities of the country or region. Nevertheless, the study carries theoretical significance in the literature of sustainability.
Practical implications
The study has practical implications for academia, regulatory bodies and universities to integrate, implement and report sustainability in HEIs.
Originality/value
The study proposes and validates the sustainability integration and implementation index in HEIs. The index is unique and has originality or value particularly for HEIs of the developing countries.
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Stephen T. Homer and Kuan Siew Khor
This paper aims to highlight a multidimensional model of sustainability practices that are considered meaningful and practical for implementation by higher education institutions…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to highlight a multidimensional model of sustainability practices that are considered meaningful and practical for implementation by higher education institutions (HEIs).
Design/methodology/approach
The Concept System® Global MAX© software facilitated the bottom-up approach of this study, where 32 staff and students of a private HEI were prompted with the question, “What design features or facilities should the university building have for you to consider the building sustainable?” Their opinions were collected as statements via online brainstorming and the process was followed through with the sorting and rating of reduced statements. The software was also used to perform multi-dimensional scaling and cluster analysis to generate the findings of this study.
Findings
An eight-cluster solution was proposed based on the themes within respective clusters. Respondents rated the importance of sustainability resource usage and sustainability and technology highly. Whilst sustainable campus facilities appeal to students, education for sustainable development were more important to staff.
Originality/value
The community-based participatory research recommends activities that enhance the adoption of sustainable development in making universities a “living lab” for sustainability.
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Hanan Alghamdi and Ali Selamat
With the proliferation of terrorist/extremist websites on the World Wide Web, it has become progressively more crucial to detect and analyze the content on these websites…
Abstract
Purpose
With the proliferation of terrorist/extremist websites on the World Wide Web, it has become progressively more crucial to detect and analyze the content on these websites. Accordingly, the volume of previous research focused on identifying the techniques and activities of terrorist/extremist groups, as revealed by their sites on the so-called dark web, has also grown.
Design/methodology/approach
This study presents a review of the techniques used to detect and process the content of terrorist/extremist sites on the dark web. Forty of the most relevant data sources were examined, and various techniques were identified among them.
Findings
Based on this review, it was found that methods of feature selection and feature extraction can be used as topic modeling with content analysis and text clustering.
Originality/value
At the end of the review, present the current state-of-the- art and certain open issues associated with Arabic dark Web content analysis.
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Suhanom Mohd Zaki, Saifudin Razali, Mohd Aidil Riduan Awang Kader, Mohd Zahid Laton, Maisarah Ishak and Norhapizah Mohd Burhan
Many studies have examined pre-diploma students' backgrounds and academic performance with results showing that some did not achieve the expected level of competence. This study…
Abstract
Purpose
Many studies have examined pre-diploma students' backgrounds and academic performance with results showing that some did not achieve the expected level of competence. This study aims to examine the relationship between students’ demographic characteristics and their academic achievement at the pre-diploma level using machine learning.
Design/methodology/approach
Secondary data analysis was used in this study, which involved collecting information about 1,052 pre-diploma students enrolled at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Pahang Branch between 2017 and 2021. The research procedure was divided into two parts: data collecting and pre-processing, and building the machine learning algorithm, pre-training and testing.
Findings
Gender, family income, region and achievement in the national secondary school examination (Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia [SPM]) predict academic performance. Female students were 1.2 times more likely to succeed academically. Central region students performed better with a value of 1.26. M40-income students were more likely to excel with an odds ratio of 2.809. Students who excelled in SPM English and Mathematics had a better likelihood of succeeding in higher education.
Research limitations/implications
This research was limited to pre-diploma students from UiTM Pahang Branch. For better generalizability of the results, future research should include pre-diploma students from other UiTM branches that offer this programme.
Practical implications
This study is expected to offer insights for policymakers, particularly, the Ministry of Higher Education, in developing a comprehensive policy to improve the tertiary education system by focusing on the fourth Sustainable Development Goal.
Social implications
These pre-diploma students were found to originate mainly from low- or middle-income families; hence, the programme may help them acquire better jobs and improve their standard of living. Most students enrolling on the pre-diploma performed below excellent at the secondary school level and were therefore given the opportunity to continue studying at a higher level.
Originality/value
This predictive model contributes to guidelines on the minimum requirements for pre-diploma students to gain admission into higher education institutions by ensuring the efficient distribution of resources and equal access to higher education among all communities.
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Sarika Jain, Shailja Badra and Sarita Vichore
The purpose of this paper is to explore ambidextrous leadership, a complex and multifaceted domain within leadership studies. This study examines the concept of ‘ambidextrous…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore ambidextrous leadership, a complex and multifaceted domain within leadership studies. This study examines the concept of ‘ambidextrous leadership’ from its inception, employing bibliometric analysis and the Theory–Context–Characteristics–Methods (TCCM) framework to address critical research questions and identify pathways for future investigation in leadership research.
Design/methodology/approach
To accomplish this objective, the authors conduct a bibliometric analysis and TCCM analysis of ambidextrous leadership, using data sourced from Scopus, the most extensive scientific database for review purposes. By examining 99 documents (spanning from 2007 through September 2023) related to ambidextrous leadership research from Scopus, this paper unveils insights into the performance analysis (such as publication year, noteworthy articles, prominent journals, influential authors and geographic distribution) and the evolution of scientific exploration (including key topics and themes) within the field of ambidextrous leadership over two decades. The investigation used various science mapping tools like keyword analysis, three-field plots, bibliographic coupling, co-occurrence network analysis and thematic mapping analysis. To evaluate the Bibliometric Coupling and Co-occurrence Network, a VOS viewer was used. TCCM analysis guides the future directions of research.
Findings
The bibliometric analysis reveals the publication trends, most influential authors, articles, journals, countries and important keywords. Subsequently, it presents the network connections in the field of ambidextrous leadership. TCCM analysis recognized emerging research diversifications in the literature on ambidextrous leadership.
Research limitations/implications
A single database, i.e. Scopus, was used to extract the data which poses a limitation for the current study. This study provides insights to the researchers and practitioners on a comprehensive understanding of the emerging concept of “ambidextrous leadership,” an overview of the publication trends and emerging research themes identified in the clusters, and suggests possible directions for further study using TCCM analysis.
Originality/value
This study provides the intellectual structure of ambidextrous leadership literature and its advancement over the years using bibliometric analysis and TCCM analysis.
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Bahareh Farhoudinia, Selcen Ozturkcan and Nihat Kasap
This paper aims to conduct an interdisciplinary systematic literature review (SLR) of fake news research and to advance the socio-technical understanding of digital information…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to conduct an interdisciplinary systematic literature review (SLR) of fake news research and to advance the socio-technical understanding of digital information practices and platforms in business and management studies.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper applies a focused, SLR method to analyze articles on fake news in business and management journals from 2010 to 2020.
Findings
The paper analyzes the definition, theoretical frameworks, methods and research gaps of fake news in the business and management domains. It also identifies some promising research opportunities for future scholars.
Practical implications
The paper offers practical implications for various stakeholders who are affected by or involved in fake news dissemination, such as brands, consumers and policymakers. It provides recommendations to cope with the challenges and risks of fake news.
Social implications
The paper discusses the social consequences and future threats of fake news, especially in relation to social networking and social media. It calls for more awareness and responsibility from online communities to prevent and combat fake news.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the literature on information management by showing the importance and consequences of fake news sharing for societies. It is among the frontier systematic reviews in the field that covers studies from different disciplines and focuses on business and management studies.
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Heng-Yang Lu, Yi Zhang and Yuntao Du
Topic model has been widely applied to discover important information from a vast amount of unstructured data. Traditional long-text topic models such as Latent Dirichlet…
Abstract
Purpose
Topic model has been widely applied to discover important information from a vast amount of unstructured data. Traditional long-text topic models such as Latent Dirichlet Allocation may suffer from the sparsity problem when dealing with short texts, which mostly come from the Web. These models also exist the readability problem when displaying the discovered topics. The purpose of this paper is to propose a novel model called the Sense Unit based Phrase Topic Model (SenU-PTM) for both the sparsity and readability problems.
Design/methodology/approach
SenU-PTM is a novel phrase-based short-text topic model under a two-phase framework. The first phase introduces a phrase-generation algorithm by exploiting word embeddings, which aims to generate phrases with the original corpus. The second phase introduces a new concept of sense unit, which consists of a set of semantically similar tokens for modeling topics with token vectors generated in the first phase. Finally, SenU-PTM infers topics based on the above two phases.
Findings
Experimental results on two real-world and publicly available datasets show the effectiveness of SenU-PTM from the perspectives of topical quality and document characterization. It reveals that modeling topics on sense units can solve the sparsity of short texts and improve the readability of topics at the same time.
Originality/value
The originality of SenU-PTM lies in the new procedure of modeling topics on the proposed sense units with word embeddings for short-text topic discovery.