Search results

Entrepreneurial initiative has come to be recognised the world over as a driver of economic and social development. However, there is still a long way to go in terms of understanding the acquisition of capabilities related to entrepreneurship. In today's society, it is clear that human capital determines the rate at which quality of life improves or declines, as well as the competitiveness of productive systems. Conceptually, engineers might be regarded as vital enablers of change. This paper seeks to address these issues.

A questionnaire was passed to the students of civil engineering, which contained questions on the desirability of new venture creation or the intention to start up a new business. The questionnaire also asked respondents about the perception of the feasibility of creating a new venture, and the perceived image and economic and social evaluation of the business owner, as well as the prestige and recognition of the figure of the entrepreneur in comparison with other professions. Maintaining this structure enabled the authors to compare the results of this survey with other studies carried out in different fields and moments in time.

Engineers perceive creativity and innovation as having characteristics that are inherent in the qualities associated with their profession, in the sense that the engineer is someone who uses inventiveness to achieve or carry out objectives. In short, it is a profession that involves the application of ingenuity. However, engineering graduates rarely consider starting up a business as one of their career options upon completing their studies, and will invariably look to work for established firms.

Technical training appears to be an enabler of creativity and an obstacle to business initiative. It would be interesting to analyse this implication over time.

The results of this study indicate a clear demand to complete the entrepreneurial training of civil engineering students. When asked about the possibility or opportunity of complementing their studies with business‐related training, a large part of the sample (43 per cent) were in total agreement, and 29 per cent were generally in favour.

It can be concluded that the introduction of subjects that promote business creation in a technical degree course, such as engineering, is both necessary and desirable.

With a view to identifying the attitudes and beliefs amongst engineers towards business creation, this paper analyses the desirability, feasibility and intention to create a new firm, as well as the image and perception of the figure of the business owner, and the personal characteristics of civil engineering students as entrepreneurs.

Existing studies are scarce, especially on the Industry 4.0 application to firms' innovation and competitiveness, and even more on the application to LATAM and Spanish SMEs. This paper tries to fill this gap by explaining the results of applying a systematic model, to understand which are the SMEs' strengths and weaknesses in relation to the Industry 4.0 transformation.

A systematic methodology involving documentation analysis, visits to the companies, interviews with employees and managers, making a preliminary diagnosis, crossing their needs with the enablers that can apply. The fieldwork was carried out during a two month period (2019), on a target sample of 22 SMEs operating under industrial productive activity already exporting or planning their internationalization toward LATAM regions.

There are relevant barriers that need to be overcome in order to enter Industry 4.0 and, in this specific analysis, the following major classification was obtained: (1) Technological barrier, (2) Training barrier, (3) Economic barrier and (4) Contextual barrier.

This paper provides new insights and sets a starting point regarding LATAM and Spanish’ Industry 4.0 situation, while contributing to the SMEs competitiveness by providing deeper understanding of the barriers and limitations in adopting Industry 4.0, pointing out some implications and suggestions for organizations to implement.

Los estudios existentes son escasos, especialmente sobre la aplicación de la Industria 4.0 a la innovación y competitividad de las empresas, y más aún sobre la aplicación a las PYMEs de LATAM y españolas. Este trabajo trata de llenar este vacío explicando los resultados de un modelo sistemático, para entender cuáles son sus fortalezas y debilidades en la transformación hacía la Industria 4.0.

Este modelo sistemático involucra el análisis de documentación, visitas a las empresas, entrevistas con empleados y directivos, realizando un diagnóstico previo, cruzando sus necesidades con los habilitadores que pueden aplicar. El trabajo de campo se ha realizado durante un periodo de dos meses (2019), sobre una muestra potencial de 22 PYMEs que operan bajo actividad productiva industrial y que ya exportan o planean su internacionalización hacia las regiones de LATAM.

Existen barreras relevantes que deben ser superadas para implementar la Industria 4.0 y, en este análisis específico, se identificaron: (1) Barreras tecnológicas; (2) Barreras formativas; (3) Barreras económicas; y (4) Barreras contextuales.

Este trabajo proporciona nuevas perspectivas y establece un punto de partida sobre la situación de la Industria 4.0 en las PYMEs LATAM y españolas, apoyando la competitividad al proporcionar una comprensión más profunda de las barreras y limitaciones en su implementación, al tiempo que señala algunas implicaciones y sugerencias para las organizaciones a implementar.

This paper aims to examine the knowledge production on tourism gender research in Latin America and to reflect on the main challenges faced by this subfield.

The study conducts a bibliometric analysis of the journal articles on tourism gender research in the largest scientific databases in Latin America: Redalyc, Scielo and Latindex. The paper examines variables such as year of publication, journal, authors, affiliation, types of articles, research topics, methodologies and geographical location of fieldwork.

The study identified 153 gender aware papers from 70 journals for the period 2001-2015. The leading countries in the subfield are Brazil, Mexico and Argentina. The majority of papers are empirical and have a local scope. The main theoretical approaches derive from sociological and anthropological perspectives with a predominance of qualitative methodologies. There is a need to strengthen the theoretical and epistemological frameworks and increase international collaboration for knowledge exchange among tourism gender scholars.

The bibliometric analysis was limited to indexed journals with online access. It focused on academic articles and excluded research notes, book reviews and conference proceedings.

As the main working languages of scientific production in Latin America are Spanish and Portuguese, this is the first attempt to make tourism gender research from this region visible for the predominantly Anglophone tourism academy, with the intention of identifying common challenges.

This study aims to examine the role of women’s career expectations (CEs) in changes in their career advancement (CA) and to determine whether these changes were because of socio-demographic factors.

Multiple linear regression was used to measure the relationship between women’s CEs and CA, as well as the influences that socio-demographic factors (e.g. education) have on that relationship.

Results indicated that CEs had two dimensions (i.e. career rewards and career development) and that career reward expectations had a significantly higher effect on CA than career development expectations. Furthermore, women were very likely to set higher CEs and stronger desires for CA as they became older. Results also showed that education, working years and position level were significantly related to women’s CA.

This study provides new insight into which aspects of women’s CA can be boosted by CEs and how these aspects may be affected by socio-demographic factors. This study can help hotels design better career management strategies to achieve the desired results. The study also provides guidance for women’s career management activities.

This study considers women’s CEs in hotels. The results revealed two dimensions (i.e. career rewards and career development) of CEs and uncovered the influences of socio-demographic factors on women’s CA, for example, age, education, working years and position level.

基于对酒店业两个变量（即职业期望和职业晋升）的理解, 本研究旨在考察职业期望在妇女职业晋升变化中的作用, 并确定这些变化是否由社会人口特征因素引起。

采用问卷调查的方式收集数据。采用多元线性回归来衡量女性职业期望和职业晋升之间的关系, 以及社会人口特征因素（如教育）对这种关系的影响。

结果表明, 职业期望有两个维度（即职业奖励和职业发展）, 职业奖励期望对职业晋升的影响明显高于职业发展期望。此外, 随着年龄的增长, 女性倾向于有更高的职业期望和更强烈的职业晋升愿望。结果还显示, 受教育程度、工作年限、职位级别与女性的职业晋升显著相关。

这项研究为女性职业期望在哪些方面可以促进职业发展以及社会人口特征因素如何影响这些方面受到的提供了新的见解。这项研究可以帮助酒店设计更好的职业管理策略, 以达到预期效果。本研究也为女性的职业管理活动提供了指导。

本研究将职业期望引入酒店业中女性员工职业发展研究。结果显示职业期望的两个维度（即职业奖励和职业发展）, 并揭示了社会人口学因素如年龄、学历、工作年限和职位级别等对女性职业晋升发展的影响, 。

basado en la comprensión de dos variables (es decir, expectativas profesionales y avance profesional) en la industria hotelera, este estudio tuvo como objetivo examinar el papel de las expectativas profesionales en los cambios en el avance profesional de las mujeres y determinar si estos cambios se debieron a factores sociodemográficos.

Se Utilizó Un Cuestionario Para Recopilar Datos. Se Utilizó La Regresión Lineal Múltiple Para Medir La Relación Entre Las Expectativas Profesionales De Las Mujeres Y El Avance Profesional, Así Como Las Influencias Que Los Factores Sociodemográficos (Por Ejemplo, La Educación) Tienen En Esa Relación.

Los Resultados Indicaron Que Las Expectativas De Carrera Tenían Dos Dimensiones (Es Decir, Recompensas De Carrera Y Desarrollo De Carrera) Y Que Las Expectativas De Recompensa De Carrera Tenían Un Efecto Significativamente Mayor En El Avance De La Carrera Que Las Expectativas De Desarrollo De Carrera. Además, Las Mujeres Tenían Más Probabilidades De Tener Expectativas Profesionales Más Altas Y Deseos Más Fuertes Para Avanzar En Su Carrera A Medida Que Envejecían. Los Resultados También Mostraron Que La Educación, Los Años De Trabajo Y El Nivel De Posición Estaban Significativamente Relacionados Con El Avance Profesional De Las Mujeres.

Este Estudio Proporciona Una Nueva Perspectiva Sobre Qué Aspectos Del Avance Profesional De Las Mujeres Pueden Ser Impulsados Por Las Expectativas Profesionales Y Cómo Estos Aspectos Pueden Verse Afectados Por Factores Sociodemográficos. Este Estudio Puede Ayudar A Los Hoteles A Diseñar Mejores Estrategias De Gestión Profesional Para Lograr Los Resultados Deseados. El Estudio También Proporciona Orientación Para Las Actividades De Gestión Profesional De Las Mujeres.

este estudio considera las expectativas profesionales de las mujeres en la industria hotelera. Los resultados revelaron dos dimensiones (es decir, recompensas profesionales y desarrollo profesional) de las expectativas profesionales y descubrieron las influencias de los factores sociodemográficos en el avance profesional de las mujeres, por ejemplo, edad, educación, años de trabajo y nivel de posición.

Sustainable transport is often defined according to energy efficiency and environmental impacts. With global approval during Habitat III, however, a set of Sustainable Development Goals have become the focus for human development until 2030, underlining the relevance of health, equity and other social issues.

These goals raise the challenge of achieving significant progress towards ‘transport justice’ in diverse societies and contexts. While exclusion occurs for different reasons, discrimination, based on cultural roles, combines with sexual harassment and other mobility barriers to limit women’s mobility. This makes gender an area of particular interest and potential insight for considering equity within sustainability and its social components.

Using data from Metropolitan Santiago to ground a conceptual exploration, this chapter examines the equity implications of women’s travel patterns and sustainable transport. Key findings underline the importance of considering non-work trip purposes and achieving better land-use combinations to accommodate care-oriented trips. Moreover, barriers linked to unsafe public transport environments limit women’s mobility and, therefore, their participation. Women account for a disproportionately high number of walking trips, a situation that can be interpreted as ‘greater sustainability’ in terms of energy use and emissions, but suggests significant inequalities in access. Environmental and economic sustainability gains may be achieved at a high social cost, unless specific measures are taken.

Idiosyncratic deals, or i-deals, are customizations that employees make to their jobs with the consent of their organization. This study investigates how employees obtain their task and developmental (T&D) i-deals by using qualitative data obtained from professionals in India.

In-depth, qualitative interviews were conducted with 27 professionals employed in diverse services firms in India. Data was analysed using the Gioia guidelines (Gioia et al., 2013).

The findings show a four-stage i-deal obtainment process that highlights how the desire for a T&D i-deal emerges, strengthens and materializes into an actual discussion or negotiation, and the routes employees take depending upon the success or failure of the i-deal discussion.

I-deals obtainment is a four-stage cyclical process, encompassing several factors, including attempts at credibility building by the i-dealer, assessing the availability of the i-deal within the organization and using influence tactics during the i-deal discussion. The application of social learning theory accentuates understanding of the i-deal obtainment process, particularly how employees develop and recognize the desire for an i-deal and how they progress through the four stages.

Family small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) represent a substantial part of many economies. In these organizations, close and informal relationships between employers and employees often foster a mutual understanding of each other’s needs, facilitating the negotiation of idiosyncratic deals (i-deals), special employment conditions tailored for individual employees. However, research on how i-deals are negotiated in family SMEs, especially regarding power dynamics and influence, remains limited. This study aims to identify the types of i-deals negotiated in family SMEs and explore the role of power and influence in these negotiations.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 45 employees and 15 employers from Spanish family SMEs. Data were analyzed using ATLAS.ti 8, and thematic analysis was performed.

The study concludes that task, flexibility, financial and development i-deals are particularly negotiated in family SMEs. It identifies that referent and expert power play an important role in initiating these negotiations. Furthermore, rational tactics are generally employed for negotiating work performance, soft tactics for employment-related aspects and hard tactics for work flexibility. Additionally, the study identified gender differences in the negotiation of i-deals.

This study enhances i-deal literature by highlighting the distinct characteristics of family SMEs and their impact on i-deal negotiations. The findings suggest that power dynamics and influence tactics in family SMEs differ from those in larger firms. Moreover, certain i-deals may encounter resistance due to concerns about organizational performance and economic implications. Understanding these factors is essential for developing effective negotiation strategies in family SMEs.

This study offers a dual perspective, analyzing the power and influence tactics used by both employees and employers in family SME i-deal negotiations and highlighting gendered dynamics in these processes.

Globally, several studies have shown that biosphere reserves faced severe threats related to climate and human changes. Community participation in environmental sustainability may mitigate these threats in biosphere reserve destinations. Therefore, this paper aims to examine the community perceptions regarding the proposed Penang Hill Biosphere Reserve with the support of Community Readiness Theory to the framework via qualitative research.

To achieve this, 13 face-to-face interviews were conducted that covered major communities within the hill and validated via secondary sources. Phenomenological type of qualitative research and a combination of purposeful and snowball type of non-probability sampling techniques were used.

This paper found that Penang Hill Corporation does collaborate with communities around the hill in matters connected with hill conservation.

This paper is limited to investigating community perceptions regarding the proposed Penang Hill Biosphere Reserve. Future research is needed to further investigate the framework and the supporting theory (Community Readiness Theory).

This paper recommended that Penang Hill Corporation should build more effective communication capacity for the communities around the hill via coordinated synergy within the various agencies and communities. Also, the act that established the corporation should be reviewed to capture the provision of liaison offices for agencies controlling various sections of the hill.

This paper demonstrates that positive community engagement will enhance environmental sustainability and possibly facilitate recognition by UNESCO’s Man and Biosphere Reserve Programme.