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1 – 10 of 552Katherine L. Robershaw, Min Xiao, Erin Wallett and Baron G. Wolf
The research enterprise within higher education is becoming more competitive as funding agencies require more collaborative research projects, higher-level of accountability and…
Abstract
Purpose
The research enterprise within higher education is becoming more competitive as funding agencies require more collaborative research projects, higher-level of accountability and competition for limited resources. As a result, research analytics has emerged as a field, like many other areas within higher education to act as a data-informed unit to better understand how research institutions can effectively grow their research strategy. This is a new and emerging field within higher education.
Design/methodology/approach
As businesses and other industries are embracing recent advances in data technologies such as cloud computing and big data analytic tools to inform decision making, research administration in higher education is seeing a potential in incorporating advanced data analytics to improve day-to-day operations and strategic advancement in institutional research. This paper documents the development of a survey measuring research administrators’ perspectives on how higher education and other research institutions perceive the use of data and analytics within the research administration functions. The survey development process started with composing a literature review on recent developments in data analytics within the research administration in the higher education domain, from which major components of data analytics in research administration were conceptualized and identified. This was followed by an item matrix mapping the evidence from literature with corresponding, newly drafted survey items. After revising the initial survey based on suggestions from a panel of subject matter experts to review, a pilot study was conducted using the revised survey instrument and validated by employing the Rasch measurement analysis.
Findings
After revising the survey based on suggestions from the subject matter experts, a pilot study was conducted using the revised survey instrument. The resultant survey instrument consists of six dimensions and 36 survey items with an establishment of reasonable item fit, item separation and reliability. This survey protocol is useful for higher educational institutions to gauge research administrators’ perceptions of the culture of data analytics use in the workplace. Suggestions for future revisions and potential use of the survey were made.
Originality/value
Very limited scholarly work has been published on this topic. The use of data-informed and data-driven approaches with in research strategy within higher education is an emerging field of study and practice.
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The purpose of this article is to recognize emotional intelligence (EI) as a specific emotional competency possessed by entrepreneurs that facilitates their coping with stressors…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to recognize emotional intelligence (EI) as a specific emotional competency possessed by entrepreneurs that facilitates their coping with stressors that arise in their day-to-day work. Highlighting the problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies employed by entrepreneurs, the paper establishes that EI in entrepreneurs enables the onset of acceptance of the existence of a stressful situation and that of optimism that a stressful situation can be solved.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reviews literature on the topics related to links between EI, entrepreneurial behaviors and entrepreneurial coping. Subsequently, acceptance-avoidance motivation theory is used to posit that entrepreneurs' EI serves as an antecedent that (1) guides the selection of their coping strategies through onset of optimism and acceptance of stressful situation, (2) assists in perceiving those situations as either controllable or uncontrollable and (3) shapes the actual process through which entrepreneurs cope.
Findings
The proposed conceptual model asserts that entrepreneurs' EI as reflected in their abilities to perceive, use, understand and regulate emotions is key to their coping. EI in entrepreneurs assists them in being optimistic about solving a stressful situation and accepting of such situations as well. Thereafter, selection of a problem-focused or emotion-focused coping strategy or both ensues.
Originality/value
The current work offers a conceptual model that highlights the role of entrepreneurs' EI in coping, integrates both the cognitive and affective components of coping and suggests a variety of avenues for future research. This model extends models of coping that categorize coping types to specify the process thought to be involved. Understanding the role of emotional intelligence in coping with stress by entrepreneurs has theoretical and practical implications which are discussed as well.
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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of the process of strategic planning on cohesiveness and performance in cognitively diverse units.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of the process of strategic planning on cohesiveness and performance in cognitively diverse units.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze an original dataset collected from employees working in healthcare organizations in the United Sates.
Findings
This study finds the negative effects of cognitive differences among employees on a unit's cohesiveness and performance and the positive moderating effects of the process of strategic planning on such relationships. Consequently, revealing the cohesiveness enhancing function of the process of strategic planning.
Originality/value
The study contributes to past research by revealing that business organizations could use the process of strategic planning to enhance their internal cohesiveness, in turn improving their business performance. This study explains that when the process of planning clearly defines an organization's mission, goals and implementation plans, employees working in highly diverse units will be more likely to better understand, accept and in turn also support their organization as a whole and its critical strategic goals. This should increase internal cohesiveness and lead leading to better performance.
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Michael P. Lerman, Timothy P. Munyon and Jon C. Carr
Although scholarly inquiry into entrepreneurial stress has existed for nearly 40 years, little is known about how events drive stress responses in entrepreneurs, and how…
Abstract
Although scholarly inquiry into entrepreneurial stress has existed for nearly 40 years, little is known about how events drive stress responses in entrepreneurs, and how entrepreneur coping responses impact their well-being, relationships, and venture performance. In response to these deficiencies, the authors propose a stress events theory (SET) which they apply to an entrepreneurial context. The authors begin by providing a brief review of existing literature on entrepreneurial stress, which highlights unique stressors and events that entrepreneurs encounter. The authors then introduce event systems theory as developed by Morgeson, Mitchell, and Liu (2015). From this foundation, the authors develop SET, which describes how entrepreneurs react to particular event characteristics (novelty, disruptiveness, criticality, and duration). Additionally, the authors propose that how entrepreneurs interpret events drives coping choices, and that the accuracy of these coping choices subsequently differentiates the quality of entrepreneur well-being, interpersonal relationships, and venture-related consequences. The authors conclude with a discussion of contributions and areas of future research using our proposed theory.
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Gaelynn P. Wolf Bordonaro, Laura Cherry and Jessica Stallings
The relationship between learning and mental health, as well as a growing body of literature, underscores the need for art therapy in educational settings. This is particularly…
Abstract
The relationship between learning and mental health, as well as a growing body of literature, underscores the need for art therapy in educational settings. This is particularly true for learners with special needs. Shostak et al. (1985) affirmed that “for children with special needs, art therapy in a school setting can offer opportunities to work through obstacles that impede educational success” (p. 19). School art therapy facilitates improved social interaction, increased learning behaviors, appropriate affective development, and increased empathy and personal well-being. It can be adapted to meet the specific developmental needs of individual students and to parallel students’ developmental, learning, and behavioral objectives. This chapter introduces the reader to the history and basic constructs of art therapy as a psychoeducational therapeutic intervention in schools. Model programs are identified, as well as the role of the art therapist within the context of K-12 education settings. Additionally, examples of special populations who benefit from art therapy intervention within school systems are provided, along with considerations for school-wide art therapy.
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Entrepreneurs and their ventures face innumerous constraints (e.g., lack of funding, lack of business skills, and lack of social support) since the moment business opportunities…
Abstract
Entrepreneurs and their ventures face innumerous constraints (e.g., lack of funding, lack of business skills, and lack of social support) since the moment business opportunities are identified and chased, until the venture comes to reality. Scholars have conceptualized constraints as obstacles in nature, that is, as always undermining entrepreneurs’ behavior. Nonetheless, prior research has presented conflicting results. Specifically, a same constraint may or may not have a negative effect on entrepreneurs’ action. As advanced by Van Gelderen, Thurik, and Patel (2011), this suggest that “the nature of [entrepreneurial] problems is essentially evaluative, and therefore subjective.” Accordingly, a same constraint may be seen as a problem by one person but not by another. This chapter explores the evaluative nature of entrepreneurial constraints. Based on the cognitive appraisal framework (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) – which argues that constraints are not the direct precipitating cause of a behavior, but rather the person’s appraisal of challenge and threat that determines the response – this chapter argues that distinct appraisals (i.e., challenge vs threat) of a same entrepreneurial constraint will be associated with distinct degrees of effort from entrepreneurs (i.e., enhanced vs reduced, respectively). This chapter provides a useful framework for entrepreneurship scholars to study the nuanced effect of entrepreneurial constraints on entrepreneurs’ behavior.
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Bernhard E. Reichert and Matthias Sohn
Many companies use competition for either monetary or non-monetary rewards to induce employee effort. Pitting employees against each other in a competition could come at a thus…
Abstract
Many companies use competition for either monetary or non-monetary rewards to induce employee effort. Pitting employees against each other in a competition could come at a thus far insufficiently considered cost of leading to lower employee cooperation. The authors examine how competition for monetary rewards in the form of tournament incentives or non-monetary rewards in the form of standing in uncompensated public rankings affects employee cooperation with former competitors in a subsequent task where the extent of the cooperation does not affect the welfare or social standing of the person deciding to cooperate. The authors hypothesize that competition in the first task negatively affects cooperation in the second task. The authors further predict that competition leads to psychological pressure, which mediates differences in cooperation. The results support the authors’ hypotheses. In addition, the authors find that the decrease in cooperation results from the behavior of low performers, whereas cooperation by high performers is not affected. The findings are important because they show that inducing effort in one dimension leads to an unintended cost in the form of lower cooperation in another dimension. This cost occurs for both types of competition – competition for monetary payoffs and for non-monetary rewards. Ultimately, the size of this cost depends on the marginal benefit from any cooperation of low performers.
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Nii Amoo, George Lodorfos and Nehal Mahtab
The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of literatures and previous studies on the relationship between strategic planning and performance and propose conceptual designs…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of literatures and previous studies on the relationship between strategic planning and performance and propose conceptual designs and hypotheses using multidimensional constructs to advance the understanding of this relationship, contribute to existing debates in the extant literature and make recommendations.
Design/methodology/approach
A semi-systematic literature and previous studies (studied by various groups of researchers within diverse disciplines) review approach has been used in this paper to contribute to the debate on whether strategic planning affects performance and how. Using more recent knowledge about the strategic planning concept, the semi-systematic review looked at how research within strategic planning has progressed over the past five decades and its relationship with performance.
Findings
In the past, the strategic planning performance relationship has been treated as a black box and this paper proposes that the conceptualisation of a number of constructs and the inclusion of strategy implementation will help converting the black box into a white box. To strengthen support for the debate regarding the relationship between strategic planning and performance this paper proposes a further conceptual/operational design, mathematical expressions and hypotheses to be tested empirically in further studies. The proposal provides a conceptualisation of the major constructs (strategy development; strategy implementation; and performance), and the use of strategy implementation as a mediator and/or as a moderator in the planning performance relationship.
Research limitations/implications
This study is limited due to fact that the findings have not been tested empirically, it is not a cross-sectional and/or a longitudinal research and only a limited number of dimensions of strategy development and strategy implementation have been used. In addition, the approach used is a semi-systematic review followed by quantitative thinking, which, in turn, typically assumes the relevance of and a warrant mainly from a positivist epistemology.
Originality/value
The proposed design developed in this paper ensures that core issues in planning performance relationships research are addressed. Furthermore, the inclusion of strategy implementation in planning performance relationship studies means that the whole chain of activities in the strategy process is being considered, drawing a complete and comprehensive conclusion on how strategic planning affects an organisation’s performance. In addition, by separating strategy implementation and by not combining it with formulation/formation activities will theoretically and analytically help to evaluate the importance or role of each stage of the strategy process. Moreover, the conceptualisation and operationalisation of the key concepts as multidimensional constructs contribute to past research gaps. Finally, this paper provides some clarity to many contradictory findings concerning the strategic planning and performance relationship.
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