Amy Cosby, Melissa Ann Sullivan, Jaime Manning and Bobby Harreveld
This case study is based on the Women in Agri-Tech programme, a teacher professional development programme that aimed to build teachers’ capabilities to use Agri-Tech in their…
Abstract
Purpose
This case study is based on the Women in Agri-Tech programme, a teacher professional development programme that aimed to build teachers’ capabilities to use Agri-Tech in their agriculture/STEM classes to increase student awareness of agriculture technology and its associated career paths. Teachers and agriculture industry partners co-created Agri-Tech modules, which were implemented and evaluated from teachers’ and students’ perspectives. This paper demonstrates how work-related learning that emphasises technology can increase the visibility of career pathways and how multi-stakeholder benefits can evolve from teacher–industry partnerships.
Design/methodology/approach
An action research design using quantitative and qualitative methods was used to construct this case study. Data collection methods included surveys, interviews, peer evaluation and teacher reflections.
Findings
Teacher professional development that incorporates teacher-industry partnerships can increase teachers’ self-efficacy and build confidence to support authentic work-related learning in their classes. Integrating technology into agriculture/STEM classes can increase the visibility of agriculture career paths for students, which is critical given the serious skills shortage in this sector.
Research limitations/implications
This study is limited in that the Women in Agri-Tech professional development programme was one standalone programme tailored specifically for women agriculture/STEM teachers through a competitive process. However, the beneficial implications of such programmes that support teacher–industry engagement have far-reaching benefits. Teacher professional development programmes that provide opportunities to partner with industry can support improvements in integrating career-aligned learning into the curriculum and can specifically address industry skills and knowledge gaps by addressing school-based learning requirements for the future workforce.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the literature on education–industry partnerships and considers how teachers can contribute to an early intervention sector workforce development strategy for future industry sustainability.
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Women’s economic empowerment (WEE) has become a crucial part of national and international policy-making agendas in the last decades. It has also developed into a field of study…
Abstract
Women’s economic empowerment (WEE) has become a crucial part of national and international policy-making agendas in the last decades. It has also developed into a field of study and knowledge production promoted and advanced by international organizations and some academic centers. Through the formulation and implementation of programs, these organizations seek to promote such empowerment. Evaluation is a crucial part of the process, assessing the results of interventions in local, regional and national settings. This book chapter aims to critically discuss the role of subjective measurement and the importance of context in these evaluations. Specifically, the status of subjective measurement, their implementation through qualitative methods and how they contribute to understanding context. Firstly, the author offers a brief reflection on the emergence of the subject as a goal and a field. Secondly, the author succinctly discusses a theoretical framework on power, (dis)empowerment and gender relations. In the third section, the author examines three reports that contribute significantly to the current debate on WEE through empirical studies, reviews and analysis. In the discussion section, the author focuses on three points that are used to connect those reports, highlighting their differences and contributions. The final remarks reflect on the importance and advantages of including subjective measurement and the significance of context in our pursuit of ending gender inequality.
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Sebastián Villa and Jaime Andrés Castañeda
The paper aims to explore how power and gender influence decision making in an operational and risky context.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to explore how power and gender influence decision making in an operational and risky context.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors run a laboratory experiment. The experimental factors are power and operational profitability. Power is manipulated using an episodic priming task, while profitability, by changing a newsvendor-type product’s procurement cost. Participants’ risk attitude is captured using a risk lottery.
Findings
Participants deviate from the optimal order regardless of the power condition and their risk profile. Risk-seeking women order consistently more than risk-seeking men, which allow women to offer a higher service level. In the low-profit condition, men prefer to make more conservative decisions, which allow them to place orders that are closer to the economical benchmark, where both men’ induced power and the risk-seeking tendencies from both genders play a role. Behavioural models in the high-power condition explain the observed differences in ordering behaviours.
Originality/value
This paper provides behavioural research to explore how differences in power and gender, and their links with risky decision making, influence decision making in an uncertain operations management context, representing thus an important departure from mainstream studies.
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Jaime Andrés Benavides Morales and Jéssica López Peláez
This paper aims to identify the risk factors that affect depression in students who sought psychological consultation during lockdown period in the health department at a…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to identify the risk factors that affect depression in students who sought psychological consultation during lockdown period in the health department at a university in Colombia.
Design/methodology/approach
The sample consisted of 33 students (12 men and 21 women) with a mean age of 21 ± 2.5 years during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. Convenience sampling was used. The beck depression inventory-II instrument and a sociodemographic questionnaire were used to determine levels of depression and associated risk factors. A Google Form was designed with the respective instruments and sent along with the informed consent by email.
Findings
The results indicated that the population is characterized by presenting a level of mild (24.2%), moderate (15.2%) and severe (21.2%) depression. Concerning the levels of depression and risk factors, a significant difference was found with a history of violence (p-value = 0.000), mainly during childhood and adolescence, as well as objection to psychological therapy, belonging to a medium–high socioeconomic stratum, lack of family support and recent significant losses coupled with the lockdown because of the pandemic, which increased symptoms of depression and suicidal ideation.
Research limitations/implications
This research was conducted using Google Forms, which meant that some questionnaires were incomplete. In addition, this study did not count with the full participation of patients who attended psychological consultation.
Practical implications
Universities should generate programs for early detection of risk factors and prevention of depression in students, which could affect academic performance, school dropout, interpersonal relationships and trigger suicidal ideation. These results can also be applied to reducing family violence, which has increased since the pandemic, by improving students' family dynamics.
Originality/value
Because of the scarce research on this topic in Latin America, this study contributes to mental health in this population. The university becomes a fundamental scenario in which the ability to help students develop an adequate expression of emotions, positive coping strategies and sense of life as protective factors against depression can be enhanced.
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Carlos López-Hernández, Francisco López and Ana Cristina González
The case study is based on a series of in-depth interviews carried out with the owners and directors of the company. The data are complemented by documentary analysis, including…
Abstract
Research methodology
The case study is based on a series of in-depth interviews carried out with the owners and directors of the company. The data are complemented by documentary analysis, including descriptions of internal processes and industry information. For the teaching note, the authors opt for an exploratory study using the open-ended approach of grounded theory.
Case overview/synopsis
Arette® is a Mexican family business dedicated to the production and sale of tequila, fusing the artisanal with the new in its production processes. Sales take place mostly in the European and American markets. The foreign market for tequila is very attractive but also very demanding both in terms of financial resources and time. Although the company has managed to enter this market through bars and restaurants, it has not yet managed to reach the final consumers (those who order margaritas in bars). Jaime, Eduardo and Lalo are wondering whether it might be time to invest more resources in ensuring that Arette® is not just a brand for fine cocktails. Until now, their main promotional tool has been word of mouth, and they are not sure what their next step should be – to focus on the international or the domestic market.
Complexity academic level
The case study can be incorporated into undergraduate classes, where it could serve as part of an international marketing course, in particular, as an international sales strategy and implementation session. It can be used to teach basic concepts and their application.
Learning objectives
This case study focuses on the decision that many small companies have to make at some point in their business strategy, which is to focus either on the international or domestic market: The objectives are as follows:
1. To identify the variables that increase or modify the demand for Tequila.
2. Compare the advantages and disadvantages of focusing on a domestic Tequila market or focusing on an international market.
3. Identify the critical variables that a small company faces if it wants to go international such as.
4. Identify if there are forms of diversification for Tequila Arette such as new markets or new products, or both.
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Carmen Paz-Aparicio, Joan E. Ricart and Jaime Bonache
Offshoring has been studied widely in the literature on strategic management and international business. However, apart from its consideration as an administrative activity, scant…
Abstract
Purpose
Offshoring has been studied widely in the literature on strategic management and international business. However, apart from its consideration as an administrative activity, scant attention has been paid to the offshoring of the human resource (HR) function. Research in this regard has instead focussed on outsourcing (Reichel and Lazarova, 2013). The purpose of this paper is to achieve a better understanding of companies’ decisions to offshore HR activities. It adapts the outsourcing model of Baron and Kreps (1999) by including the HR offshoring phenomenon and a dynamic perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
While the analysis is mostly conceptual, the authors ground the author’s arguments in offshoring data from the Offshoring Research Network, to explore whether the drivers for offshoring HR differ from the drivers for offshoring other administrative activities. The idiosyncrasy of the HR function is supported by the authors’ exploratory analysis and also by the descriptive case of a multinational and its experience with offshoring.
Findings
A coevolutionary model is proposed for understanding the behaviour of companies offshoring their HR activities. This study contends that companies should address their decision to offshore HR activities from a dynamic perspective, being aware of three processes that are in constant change: the evolution of the HR function, the evolution of service providers, and the evolution of offshoring decisions.
Originality/value
This study seeks to make a threefold contribution to the international business, strategy, and HR management disciplines.
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Teresa Jurado-Guerrero, Jordi M. Monferrer, Carmen Botía-Morillas and Francisco Abril
Most studies on work–life support at workplaces consider work–life balance to be a women’s issue, either explicitly or implicitly. This chapter analyses how fathers who are…
Abstract
Most studies on work–life support at workplaces consider work–life balance to be a women’s issue, either explicitly or implicitly. This chapter analyses how fathers who are involved caregivers are supported or hindered in attaining work–life balance by their workplaces. It explores the following three questions: (1) why fathers value some job adaptations over others compared with mothers; (2) how organizational cultures influence the work–life balance of new fathers and (3) what differences exist across public and private sectors as well as large versus small companies. A qualitative approach with three discussion groups and 22 involved fathers enables us to explore these issues for large companies, public sector workplaces and small businesses. We find that tight time schedules, flextime, telework, schedule control and fully paid nontransferable leaves of absence constitute policies that favor involved fatherhood, while measures without wage replacement generate fear of penalization in the workplace and do not fit the persistent relevance of the provider role. In addition, un-similar supervisors, envy, lack of understanding and gender stereotypes among co-workers and clients constitute cultural barriers at the workplace level. Contrary to our expectations, small businesses may offer a better work–life balance than large companies, while the public sector is not always as family-friendly as assumed.
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Jaime Santos-Reyes and Tatiana Gouzeva
Studies on human behaviour during a seismic emergency in tall buildings are scant. During such emergencies, occupants need to reach a safe place. The purpose of this paper is to…
Abstract
Purpose
Studies on human behaviour during a seismic emergency in tall buildings are scant. During such emergencies, occupants need to reach a safe place. The purpose of this paper is to address some of the emotional and behavioural responses of the occupants of three multi-storey buildings during the 19 September earthquake that hit Mexico City in 2017.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional and non-probability study was conducted using a questionnaire-based survey; the sample size was n = 352, and the study was conducted from 4 October to 20 November 2017.
Findings
(1) In the 11 storey-building, women, age (18–49 years old [yo]) and participants with higher education exhibited flight behaviour, and those of the six storey-building within the age category 18–49 yo also exhibited a similar behaviour; (2) Women and age (18–49 yo) in the six and 11-storey buildings were significantly associated with fear of the earthquake; (3) Women were significantly more fearful and felt more intense the tremors than men in the 11-storey building; (4) Women were significantly more fearful of the 11-storey building collapsing; (5) The taller the building, the more fearful were the occupants of the building collapsing.
Research limitations/implications
First, the sample considered in the study was no probability; consequently, the results should not be generalised to the existing high-rising buildings in Mexico City. Second, some of the variables considered herein were of the Likert-type scale but have been assumed as continuous; in fact, some future work could be the design of a valid and reliable questionnaire to address human behaviour during earthquakes in tall buildings.
Practical implications
The presented results may be the great value to key decision-makers on how to address the lack of earthquake preparedness during a seismic emergency. Further, the results have shed light on the negative emotions (fear) experienced by the occupants of tall buildings.
Social implications
Gaining a better understanding of human behavioural in tall buildings is essential in devising measures to mitigate the impact of earthquake disasters.
Originality/value
Research on human behaviour during a seismic emergency in high-rise buildings is scant. To gain a better understanding of human emotional and behavioural response to earthquakes in tall buildings, it becomes necessary to conduct research such as the present case study. This may help decision-makers to devise measures so that the impact of earthquake disasters may be limited.
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The following extract is taken from a speech by Jaime Caruana, Governor of the Bank of Spain, as Chairman of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, given to the Institute of…
Abstract
The following extract is taken from a speech by Jaime Caruana, Governor of the Bank of Spain, as Chairman of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, given to the Institute of International Finance in Dubai on 21st September, 2003.