Adrian Urbano, Michael Mortimer, Ben Horan, Hans Stefan and Kaja Antlej
The ability to measure cognitive load in the workplace provides several opportunities to improve workplace learning. In recent years, virtual reality (VR) has seen an increase in…
Abstract
Purpose
The ability to measure cognitive load in the workplace provides several opportunities to improve workplace learning. In recent years, virtual reality (VR) has seen an increase in use for training and learning applications due to improvements in technology and reduced costs. This study aims to focus on the use of simulation task load index (SIM-TLX), a recently developed self-reported measure of cognitive load for virtual environments to measure cognitive load while undertaking tasks in different environments.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a within-subject design experiment involving 14 participants engaged in digit-recall n-back tasks (1-back and 2-back) in two VR environments: a neutral grey environment and a realistic industrial ozone facility. Cognitive load was then assessed using the SIM-TLX.
Findings
The findings revealed higher task difficulty for the 2-back task due to higher mental demand. Furthermore, a notable interaction emerged between cognitive load and different virtual environments.
Research limitations/implications
This study relied solely on an n-back task and SIM-TLX self-report measure to assess cognitive load. Future studies should consider including ecologically valid tasks and physiological measurement tools such as eye-tracking to measure cognitive load.
Practical implications
Identifying cognitive workload sources during VR tasks, especially in complex work environments, is considered beneficial to the application of VR training aimed at improving workplace learning.
Originality/value
This study provides unique insights into measuring cognitive load from various sources as defined by the SIM-TLX sub-scales to investigate the impact of simulated workplace environments.
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Barbara de Lima Voss, David Bernard Carter and Bruno Meirelles Salotti
We present a critical literature review debating Brazilian research on social and environmental accounting (SEA). The aim of this study is to understand the role of politics in…
Abstract
We present a critical literature review debating Brazilian research on social and environmental accounting (SEA). The aim of this study is to understand the role of politics in the construction of hegemonies in SEA research in Brazil. In particular, we examine the role of hegemony in relation to the co-option of SEA literature and sustainability in the Brazilian context by the logic of development for economic growth in emerging economies. The methodological approach adopts a post-structural perspective that reflects Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory. The study employs a hermeneutical, rhetorical approach to understand and classify 352 Brazilian research articles on SEA. We employ Brown and Fraser’s (2006) categorizations of SEA literature to help in our analysis: the business case, the stakeholder–accountability approach, and the critical case. We argue that the business case is prominent in Brazilian studies. Second-stage analysis suggests that the major themes under discussion include measurement, consulting, and descriptive approach. We argue that these themes illustrate the degree of influence of the hegemonic politics relevant to emerging economics, as these themes predominantly concern economic growth and a capitalist context. This paper discusses trends and practices in the Brazilian literature on SEA and argues that the focus means that SEA avoids critical debates of the role of capitalist logics in an emerging economy concerning sustainability. We urge the Brazilian academy to understand the implications of its reifying agenda and engage, counter-hegemonically, in a social and political agenda beyond the hegemonic support of a particular set of capitalist interests.
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Camila Caldeira Langfeldt and Angela Scalabrin Coutinho
Departing from the contribution of the Social Studies of Childhood, this research aimed to understand children’s relations with school based on their economic, social, and…
Abstract
Departing from the contribution of the Social Studies of Childhood, this research aimed to understand children’s relations with school based on their economic, social, and geographical belongings. In order to understand the way children from a big city in Southern Brazil build their relations with school, 36 children between 11 and 13 years old participated. The research was developed in two public schools in two neighbourhoods which are very different in terms of family income, violence taxes, access to cultural equipment, public green spaces, public and social freedoms, among other characteristics. Both contexts have big inequalities, and one of them is a context of high social vulnerability. Through participant observations, focus group discussions, and registers in notebooks, it was intended to comprehend not just what school represents to the children but also which elements structure their childhood experiences. The listening to children’s voices revealed that school is important for both groups. For the children who attend the school in the border of the city, school represents future, learning, the possibility to be together with their friends, and also a leisure space. For the children who attend the school in the city centre, the institution is their main social space where they can be together with their friends. Children from the city center school also acknowledge that the inequality between public and private schools is a social injustice. In a country constituted by strong social inequalities, children’s knowledge contributed to comprehend how territoriality, poverty, and social exclusion are related and how they shape the relations children establish with school. This chapter aims to discuss how social inequalities create different school representations, highlighting the specificities in each context.
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Lawrence Mashimbye and Ashenafi Beyene Fanta
Financial linkages are an important determinant of shock transmissions, and the risk of financial system instability is higher when financial institutions are closely connected…
Abstract
Purpose
Financial linkages are an important determinant of shock transmissions, and the risk of financial system instability is higher when financial institutions are closely connected. This paper aims to examine interconnectedness within the shadow banking system, a credit intermediation outside traditional banking, in South Africa.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used the conditional value-at-risk (Co-VaR), using market returns of fixed-income funds, funds-of-funds, money market funds and multi-asset funds from January 2015 to December 2021, to identify funds with the highest contribution to systemic risk. The authors examined interconnectedness using the Toda and Yamamoto Granger causality test among the funds with the highest contribution to systemic risk.
Findings
The authors find a greater degree of interconnectedness in the shadow banking sector, and linkages are at an all-time high during COVID-19. The results also show that while money market funds are only receivers, multi-asset funds are both transmitters and receivers of systemic risk.
Practical implications
The regulator should strengthen monitoring of the linkages in shadow banking, particularly among multi-asset funds and money market funds, and during periods of financial turmoil.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the growing literature on systemic risk in shadow banking. Compared to prior literature, the authors use market returns data from an emerging African economy, South Africa.
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Adrian Testera Fuertes and Liliana Herrera
This paper aims to analyse the influence of workforce diversity on the firm’s likelihood to develop organisational innovations. Operationalising human resources diversity is not…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to analyse the influence of workforce diversity on the firm’s likelihood to develop organisational innovations. Operationalising human resources diversity is not straightforward, and its effect has been rather overlooked in the context of non-technological innovations. This study analyses the impact of task-related diversity among research and development (R&D) unit workers and women R&D workers, in particular.
Design/methodology/approach
To estimate the impact of task-related diversity on firm propensity to undertake organisational innovation, this study uses a generalised linear model (GLM) – with a binomial family and log–log extension. GLMs are used to control problems of over-dispersion, which, in models with binary response variables, could generate inaccurate standard error estimates and provide inconsistent results.
Findings
This paper provides three important results. Firstly, employee diversity increases the firm’s propensity to engage in organisational innovations. Secondly, the influence of each facet of task-related diversity varies depending on the type of organisational innovation considered. Thirdly, gender has an effect on the innovation process; this study shows that women play a different role in the production of non-technological innovations.
Originality/value
This paper makes several contributions to the literature. Firstly, it makes a theoretical contribution to research on innovation management by considering the influence of human resources diversity on the development of non-technological innovations. Secondly, this study analyses the role of workforce diversity in an R&D department context to clarify the contribution made by women R&D workers.
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Miguel-Angel Galindo-Martín, María-Teresa Méndez-Picazo and María-Soledad Castaño-Martínez
Economic growth is one the most relevant economic objectives for policy makers. In order to determine the variables that enhance such an objective it is important to consider…
Abstract
Purpose
Economic growth is one the most relevant economic objectives for policy makers. In order to determine the variables that enhance such an objective it is important to consider different types of entrepreneurial activity. It is also necessary to consider the level of development and growth of a country to design the proper economic policy measures, given that entrepreneurship motivations and circumstances vary from country to country. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to analyse the relationship between entrepreneurship and economic growth, including the role played by institutions and innovation considering two types of entrepreneurship (necessity and opportunity) and countries.
Design/methodology/approach
Data analysis of 31 countries with varying levels of growth and development yielded two large groups – either innovation-driven economies or efficiency-driven economies – following GEM classification based on the phases set out by the World Economic Forum. In order to test the hypotheses, a partial least squares analysis is carried out to show the existing relationships between the different variables, specifically: innovation, institutions, entrepreneurship and economic growth.
Findings
The empirical analysis used demonstrates that innovation positively affects economic growth and entrepreneurship. In addition, adequate functioning of institutions is shown to enhance economic growth and opportunity entrepreneurship. Finally, there is a positive relationship between entrepreneurship and economic growth.
Originality/value
Unlike other studies, different types of entrepreneurship (by necessity and opportunity) are essential to this analysis of the relationship between entrepreneurship and economic growth. The country sample was divided considering some country-specific structural circumstances. Neither aspect is considered in the literature and should be considered relevant for designing measures to enhance economic activity.
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Radha Yadav, Narendra Singh Chaudhary, Dharmendra Kumar and Damini Saini
This study aims to perform a systematic literature review to organize the abundance of information on employee relations (ER) and sustainable organizations. Moreover, this study…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to perform a systematic literature review to organize the abundance of information on employee relations (ER) and sustainable organizations. Moreover, this study identifies the research gaps by investigating the review of ER’ mediating and moderating variables and the relationship between ER and sustainable organizations.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is based on the systematic literature review methodology involving 257 studies in the final stage. The Scopus and Google Scholar databases with search criteria “employee relations” and “employee relations and sustainable organization” were used to achieve the research objective. After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, researchers come to the distribution of the articles based on the subthemes, geographical region, types of methods, top authors with affiliation and complete research articles based on the citation. In the final stage, this study concluded with the conceptual model comprising mediators and moderators of ER as well as the mediating and moderating variables of the relationship between ER and sustainable organizations.
Findings
The reviewed literature shows that employee relation is an optimal strategy for retaining employees via proper disclosure of human resources (HRs) and ER Index. This study included the top six publishers, namely, Emerald, Elsevier, Sage, Springer, Taylor and Francis and Wiley Online Library, to do an exhaustive review on a specific topic. The findings indicate that after COVID-19, the ER index, HR disclosures and the sustainability of ER are among the new and required paradigm shifts needed to manage a crisis impact and perform productively. The mediator and moderator variables that can improve employee–employer relationships are organizational trusts, organizational justice, perceived job satisfaction, organizational structure and firm ownership. On the other hand, variables that mediate and moderate the relationship between ER and sustainable organizations are organizational climate, organization trust, organization culture, perceived organization support, psychological empowerment, firm ownership, leadership behavior and attitude, respectively. The findings concluded that harmonious and cordial ER are pertinent in building sustainable organizations and accomplishing organizational goals.
Practical implications
The mediating and moderating variables that have been identified can be helpful for enthusiastic researchers in contributing to empirical research. Practitioners and managers can use the findings in making an effective organizational model that develops good employee–employer relationships and helps create a culture of trust and harmony. This study focuses on exploring the variables of ER, which strengthens employee–employer relationships and supports organizations to stay agile and attain sustainability to endure in the future.
Originality/value
This study insights on the specific mediating and moderating variables of ER and sustainable organizations. Till date, studies exploring constructs of ER and sustainable organizations are still in deficit. Better employee relation reflects and leads to a more resilient organization. Future researchers should explore the connection between pandemics and ER which is done insufficiently in the present time.
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Aakanksha Kataria, Satish Kumar, Riya Sureka and Bindu Gupta
This paper examines the leading trends for the journal Employee Relations from 1979 to 2018 upon its completion of 40 years of publication. Through conducting a bibliometric…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines the leading trends for the journal Employee Relations from 1979 to 2018 upon its completion of 40 years of publication. Through conducting a bibliometric analysis, the article presents the journal's publication and citation structure, prominent themes, significant author keywords and leading articles, authors, institutions and countries since its formation.
Design/methodology/approach
The article focuses on the journal's evolution and subsequent growth patterns during this period. Using the Scopus database, the leading trends in authorship, institutions, countries as well as cited documents along with the articles citing it were analysed to provide an analytic overview of the journal over the period of 1979–2018. The paper presents a graphical visualization of the bibliographic data with bibliographic coupling and co-citation analysis using the visualization tools of similarity viewer software as well.
Findings
The results indicate that the journal is on a progressive trend both in terms of productivity as well as the level of influence in the areas for which it is indexed. The journal receives the maximum influence from the UK, including its most productive authors and institutions. The journal has published research on prominent topics in human resource management, employee relations and the field of industrial relations. It has also published 25 special issues on recent trends in the domain of Human Resource (HR).
Originality/value
This article offers the first comprehensive evaluation of the intellectual structure and research contributions of the journal over its lifespan. The findings of the article are useful for researchers and HR practitioners.