Isai Amutan Krishnan, Jariah Mohd Jan and Siti Zaidah Binti Zainuddin
The purpose of this paper is to explore the knowledge of lexical items in a job interview by recent graduates.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the knowledge of lexical items in a job interview by recent graduates.
Design/methodology/approach
The data were collected from one of the organisations in the Klang Valley, Malaysia. Twenty-seven recent graduates participated in the study. The structured standard interview questions were used to elicit the job interview data. The data were recorded and analysed qualitatively by using Allwood's (1999a, b, c) communicative behaviour theory.
Findings
The findings showed that the lexical items used by the interviewees varied and revealed their knowledge of lexical items in relation to these five characteristics: personality, skills, capability, experience and self-motivation. The successful interviewees reflected their knowledge of lexical items that indicated their confidence in in the job interviews. The lexical items used by the reserved interviewees were limited that displayed their personalities and reflected uncertainty and lack of confidence. The unsuccessful interviewees used limited lexical items and were vague and evasive in answering questions. This could also be not convincing enough to influence the outcome of the interviews positively.
Practical implications
The findings of this study can assist policymakers such as officials of higher learning institutions to integrate interview workshops and mock interviews into their current curriculum as a form of preparation for undergraduates. These mock interviews can be more appropriate if experienced interviewers are utilised from the outsourcing organisations.
Social implications
It creates an awareness for job applicants especially undergraduates after completing their studies that knowledge of lexical items are important in job interviews.
Originality/value
The use of appropriate lexical items play an important role in job interviews as they have shown that all the successful interviewees had used them to good effect in their interactions with the interviewer.
Details
Keywords
Sameer Kumar and Jariah Mohd. Jan
The purpose of this study was to provide quantitative indicators of intra-university assortative mixing patterns of scholars based on five parameters: degree of connections…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to provide quantitative indicators of intra-university assortative mixing patterns of scholars based on five parameters: degree of connections, faculty, professional position, gender and race.
Design/methodology/approach
We conducted a case study of business and management scholars of University of Malaya, a research-intensive University in Malaysia, using co-authorship in papers indexed in the Digital Library Indexing System, Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) database of Web of Science, from 2006 to 2010. Background information of scholars was extracted from bibliometric records, online curriculum vitaes and other online sources. Assortativity coefficients were calculated for all parameters.
Findings
The study found a degree assortativity coefficient of 0.195, which corresponds with other studies in the literature. Assortativity due to university faculty was strongly assortative at 0.649, whereas gender (0.28) and race (0.16) were weakly assortative. However, in contrast to the common belief that “similarity breeds connection”, the scholars were highly disassortative by professional position (−0.75).
Practical implications
This study holds significance to policymakers in understanding the socio-academic factors that bring scholars together. It also adds to the body of knowledge in social network studies that are examining the various factors responsible in bringing the actors together.
Originality/value
This is one of the first studies that empirically investigated mixing patterns of researchers at a prominent research-intensive university in Malaysia.
Details
Keywords
Sameer Kumar and Jariah Mohd. Jan
The purpose of this paper is to compute and analyze the topological properties of co-authorship network formed between earth scientists in India. As a case study, the authors…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to compute and analyze the topological properties of co-authorship network formed between earth scientists in India. As a case study, the authors evaluate bibliographic data of authors who have contributed research articles in the Journal of the Geological Society of India, a premier earth science journal in India.
Design/methodology/approach
Research articles totaling 3,903 records from 1970 to 2011 were harvested from the ISI Web of Science SCI database and analyzed using Social Network Analysis.
Findings
The author productivity in terms of number of papers published followed Lotka's law with β=2.1027. A dense giant component was detected that spanned 73 percent of the network with a density of 0.0017 and clustering coefficient of 0.631, suggesting high level of knowledge diffusion and a rapid flow of information and creativity in this network. Local metrics were calculated using degree, betweenness and closeness centralities. A strong correlation was seen between degree and author productivity (number of works) and betweenness centrality and author productivity, suggesting that author's number of connections and controlling “in-between” position in the network may be providing the authors’ with the knowledge and resources to be more productive.
Originality/value
The impact of human actions on the earth systems is a hot topic of research in India. This is one of the first works that investigates co-authorship networks of Indian earth science researchers.