Marwa Al Khalidi, Sana'a Al-Rqaibat and Yasmein Okour
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the postgraduate disciplinary trends in architecture in Jordan. It highlights current research topics in master theses of architecture…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the postgraduate disciplinary trends in architecture in Jordan. It highlights current research topics in master theses of architecture programs, to enhance the selection of postgraduate thesis topics that are more responsive and adaptive to the raised research demands of communities and the profession.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper analyzed 254 master's theses published from 2009 to 2019 in three Jordanian universities. The paper employed a descriptive and content analysis for theses' titles and abstracts.
Findings
The principal results identify unique geographical, temporal and disciplinary trends in the mapped theses. The findings illustrate an interest in disciplines of design studies, building technology, housing and community and urban design among postgraduate students. The findings also highlight a centralization of theses' number and geographical location within Amman governorate. Many theses also focused on residential spaces as a scale of analysis.
Practical implications
The proposed suggestions include collaborative efforts and practical mechanisms by higher education institutions, practitioners and decision-makers for advancing rigorous, diverse and relevant research topics in postgraduate theses.
Originality/value
The paper provides a comprehensive mapping of the topics of postgraduate theses in the field of architecture. It highlights how they have evolved or have been influenced by community needs. It also draws attention toward specific disciplines that have been the focus of major architectural programs in Jordan. Finally, it highlights the coexistence of interdisciplinarity within the field of architecture.
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This paper aims to investigate the determinants of capital structure for non-financial listed firms in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the period 2004-2010. The contradiction…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the determinants of capital structure for non-financial listed firms in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the period 2004-2010. The contradiction between the different capital structure theories, limited literature on UAE and its distinctive characteristic of tax-free environment were the motivation for this paper.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used two panel data techniques to estimate the regression models, and a series of robustness checks.
Findings
The authors find that growth opportunities, size, profitability and liquidity are the main determinants of leverage. The results support the argument of the inadequacy of one capital structure theory, although the results are more inclined toward the pecking-order level.
Practical implications
The results provide a comprehensive overview of the capital structure in the UAE; this information will be of use to managers, shareholders and lenders.
Originality/value
The findings of this paper contribute to the debate of the dominance of capital structure theories. The results also add to the strand of literature on the capital structure of firms in the Middle East, as the authors provide a comprehensive investigation of the determinants of capital structure in UAE non-financial firms.
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Qi Xiong, Yalan Zheng, Ruitong Gu, Jun Wen and Zhiyong Li
This qualitative study explores how Chinese senior outbound tourists perceive support from their adult children and what kinds of support they desire.
Abstract
Purpose
This qualitative study explores how Chinese senior outbound tourists perceive support from their adult children and what kinds of support they desire.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative data were collected from semi-structured interviews with 26 participants. Transcribed interviews were analysed via thematic analysis.
Findings
This study captured the contradictory feelings of different types of Chinese senior outbound tourists (i.e. independent, neutral, and dependent) according to the degree of desire for support from their adult children. The results further identified the real desires among Chinese senior outbound tourists for children's attitudinal support, caring support, appropriate financial support, companionship, and timing support.
Research limitations/implications
Since this qualitative research is based on small samples with typical social and cultural characteristics, our research results only describe an existence. Our findings provide insight into the existence of the phenomenon, rather than allowing the results to be generalized to the wider population (Gram et al., 2019).
Practical implications
The tourism industry could develop products to alleviate such feelings. Integrating the concept of filial piety into adult children's support for their parents' overseas travel can not only meet parents' expectations but also relieve parents' ambivalence. Destination operators and travel agencies could thus design mixed products targeting Chinese elderly parents and their adult children by providing activities for both generations. Purchasing behaviour represents a type of emotional and instrumental support for the elderly. Destination operators and travel agencies can also launch products suitable for in-depth outbound travel that cater to adult children's leisure travel while meeting the elderly's travel needs.
Originality/value
This study also extends both intergenerational support theory and intergenerational ambivalence theory regarding Chinese senior outbound tourists.
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Carmen Valor, Carlos Martínez-de-Ibarreta, Isabel Carrero and Amparo Merino
Brief loving-kindness meditation (LKM) is introduced here as a valid social marketing intervention. LKM positively influences prosocial cognitions and affects. However, it remains…
Abstract
Purpose
Brief loving-kindness meditation (LKM) is introduced here as a valid social marketing intervention. LKM positively influences prosocial cognitions and affects. However, it remains unclear whether brief meditation interventions can influence prosocial behavior. This study aims to provide evidence of the effects of short LKM on prosocial behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
This study reports the results of three experiments examining the effects of brief LKM on donations to unknown others. The results are then integrated with the results of seven other studies testing the effects of brief LKM on prosocial behavior using a meta-analysis (n = 683).
Findings
LKM increased love more than the control group (focused breathing) in the three experiments; however, its effects on donations were mixed. The meta-analysis shows that LKM has a small-to-medium significant effect compared to active control groups (d = 0.303); moreover, age and type of prosocial measure used moderate the effects.
Originality/value
Results suggest that LKM can nurture prosocial emotions such as love and lead young individuals to donate. However, these emotions may not be sufficient to lead adult meditators to share their resources with unknown others. This study presents the first meta-analysis of brief LKM and provides insights into the use of meditation in social marketing programs.
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This study seeks to examine how follower’s emotional intelligence influences their emotional reactions to leadership.
Abstract
Purpose
This study seeks to examine how follower’s emotional intelligence influences their emotional reactions to leadership.
Design/Methodology/Approach
Data were collected at two points in time. First, I assessed the emotional intelligence of 157 participants in a laboratory setting. Then, a few weeks later, an experiment manipulating leadership behavior was conducted with same participants. After viewing the leader, the participants’ emotional reactions to their attributions of the leader’s behavior were assessed.
Findings
In line with expectations, emotional intelligence was associated with different emotional responses to attributions for the leader’s behavior. Specifically, participants lower on emotional intelligence had more extreme emotional responses to the leader than their more highly emotionally intelligent counterparts.
Research Limitations/Implications
Although emotional intelligence has received a lot of scholarly attention with regard to predicting performance and leadership emergence, we need to learn more about how it influences emotional responses at work.
Practical Implications
If emotional intelligence helps promote less extreme emotional reactions at work, emotional skills should be developed in employees.
Originality/Value
This study is the first to examine emotional intelligence as a moderator of emotional reactions to attributions of leadership charisma and intent.
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Terry Grissom, Lay Cheng Lim and James DeLisle
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the strategy that a turnaround in the USA will portend a turnaround in the UK's economy and property market. For this strategy to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the strategy that a turnaround in the USA will portend a turnaround in the UK's economy and property market. For this strategy to operate, it is assumed that the capital and property markets in and between the two nations are highly integrated with endogenous pricing functions.
Design/methodology/approach
Given the endogenous assumptions of the conjectured research statement, tests of integration (or segmentation) between two capital and property markets are conducted. Correlation, tracking error analysis, and a multiple systematic risk factor model are used to test the pricing relationships. The methodological form employs variant macroeconomic variable pricing models (MVM) of alternative combinations of systematic affects operating across and between the national markets.
Findings
Pricing integration is noted between the UK and US capital markets, while the property markets are economically and statistically segmented. Opportunities for arbitrage based on different prices/returns for equivalent risk exposures are statistically observed between the UK and USA. The effect is that systematic pricing between the two markets cannot be addressed solely by diversification options. This infers a potential for arbitrage (statistically, strategically or in practice) is possible, given that systematic risk exposures between the two markets are not equivalently priced across cyclical phases. In this context it is inferred that the probable measure of pricing differences across the two markets is more than a cyclical lag effect.
Originality/value
The paper delineates the degrees of integration/segmentation in the UK and US property and capital markets as a function of systematic risks in changing economic conditions. These differences support the existence of statistical arbitrage and the specification of investment behaviour as a function of differencing pricing expectations. These findings can assist in the formulation of investment and hedging strategies to assist in managing international portfolios subject to cyclical market exposures. This paper contributes to an understanding of and foundation for testing the nature and impact of cycles on property investment performance as a function of pricing changes.
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Cheng‐Ching Yeh, Kuo‐Hsing Lan, Wei‐Ping Dow, Jui‐Hsia Hsu, Cliff Lee, Chih‐Hao Hsu, Ken Lee, Jordan Chen and Philip Lu
The trend of electronic products toward lighter, thinner, and faster transmission is challenging the printed circuit board industry to incorporate high density interconnection…
Abstract
The trend of electronic products toward lighter, thinner, and faster transmission is challenging the printed circuit board industry to incorporate high density interconnection technology (such as build‐up and semi‐additive processes). Micro stacked via is one technology utilized to produce high‐density structures. Dielectric resin, conductive paste or via plating are usually applied for the filling process. As compared with other filling methods, via filling plating technology has advantages in offering a shorter process and higher reliability. This paper discusses the influence of different equipment design, operating conditions and additives on via filling plating technology.
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The global pandemic has required organisational leaders to respond rapidly in a time of uncertainty. A specific challenge for leaders during the global pandemic is the salient and…
Abstract
Purpose
The global pandemic has required organisational leaders to respond rapidly in a time of uncertainty. A specific challenge for leaders during the global pandemic is the salient and immediate threat to worker health and well-being. Unfortunately, the consequences of different leadership actions in this context are not well understood. By exploring the path from leader behaviour to employee well-being via experienced work characteristics, this study aims to provide a framework for better understanding pandemic threat and corresponding leadership impact.
Design/methodology/approach
Two prevention-focused leadership strategies were explored: defend and adapt strategy. Two important work characteristics role clarity and workload were used to help explain the links between leadership strategies and well-being. Potential mediating pathways were tested in path analysis with Mplus (v7.4) based on 515 online survey responses.
Findings
Different mediating pathways demonstrated complex associations between the constructs. Increases in the both prevention-focused leadership strategies were found associated with positive well-being by increasing employees' perceptions of leadership and by improving role clarity in the workplace. Notably, evidence also supported that increase in defend strategy was linked to reduced worker well-being through intensified workload.
Originality/value
In times of uncertainty amidst the global COVID-19 pandemic, prevention-focused leadership is vital to engage the workforce and ensure compliance with safety procedures to avoid associated risks to worker health and organisational performance. This research focused on the rarely studied topic of prevention-focused leadership, and how prevention strategies were related to employee well-being. Based on the findings for prevention-focused defend and adapt strategies, this study suggested leadership practices that might shape employee well-being in a time of turbulence.