Mara Franco and Raquel Meneses
The main purpose of this research is to understand if customers from countries with alleged similar culture expect services dimensions equally and to understand the level of…
Abstract
Purpose
The main purpose of this research is to understand if customers from countries with alleged similar culture expect services dimensions equally and to understand the level of proximity among those countries.
Design/methodology/approach
Quantitative methodology was used to test the level of proximity in customers' expectations about a service among different countries with alleged similar cultural patterns and if these customers share similar expectations about a set of service dimensions. This transnational research regarded the hotel service and data were collected from ten Latin countries: Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Romania, Brazil, Mexico, Uruguay, Bolivia and Chile. About 1262 customers answered a questionnaire about their expectations about service dimensions of the hotel service.
Findings
Findings show that Latin customers' expectations about services are not equal and that there is a low level of proximity or similarity of customers' expectations about service among Latin countries.
Research limitations/implications
Research was applied in one group of Latin countries that revealed a low level of proximity of customer's expectations about the hotel service. Further attempts should be made to expand research to additional Latin countries in order to allow understanding if the proximity level rises, decreases or maintains.
Originality/value
The major contribution was to use a cross-cultural approach to understand the level of proximity between the Latin countries in terms of customer's expectations about service dimensions, as these countries are frequently clustered into one group and customer's expectations are presumed to also be similar.
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António Almeida, Sergio Jesus Teixeira and Mara Franco
The purpose of this paper is to get insights on a real-life portfolio of events from a demand-centred prospective, based on the identification of factors influencing the degree of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to get insights on a real-life portfolio of events from a demand-centred prospective, based on the identification of factors influencing the degree of attendee’s satisfaction, with the ultimate aim of identifying commonalities and prospective cross-leverage strategies among events.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from attendees to three major events taking place in Funchal, the capital city of Madeira, were analysed based on multivariate statistics and categorical regression owing to the overwhelming presence of categorical data in the database. The econometric analysis pursued in this paper is based on a sample of 1,830 tourists.
Findings
The research demonstrates that the impact of the socio-economic variables and travel arrangements on attendees’ satisfaction is rather irrelevant, irrespective of the event under analysis, with cross-cutting factors defining the overall quality of any event (mainly technical aspects such as aesthetical elements, organization and opening hours) determinant in predicting the overall degree of satisfaction. Another key finding relates to the existence of a number of commonalities among events, in terms of tourists’ profiles, market orientation, themes and resources laying ground to define ready-to-apply cross-leverage strategies.
Research limitations/implications
The analysis concentrated on three major events taking place in the capital city of a peripheral region. The content of the questionnaire co-developed with the destination management organization with order to get access to a large sample of respondents.
Practical implications
Lessons to be learnt in terms of managing a disparate collection of events developed over time in an ad hoc manner. A few examples of cross-leverage strategies are put forward.
Originality/value
The analysis and empirical content portrayed in this study contribute to the literature on event portfolio via description of real-life case examples of how to develop competencies based on post-event analysis in a proactive manner.
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This paper offers a contribution to the authors’ understanding of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on living conditions of Italian households. A large part of the research…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper offers a contribution to the authors’ understanding of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on living conditions of Italian households. A large part of the research, analysis, comments focused on the relation between the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and income of the Italian households does not capture the extent of the current changes. The focus on the highly differentiated impacts of the pandemic on three core dimensions of social integration (the sphere of work, that of welfare and that of the family) could help the authors to grasp the current transformations.
Design/methodology/approach
The research draws on Castel's distinction between three “zones” of post-Fordist employment societies with the aim to identify the processes and the conditions that carry individuals from one “zones” to the other. Theoretical considerations are supported by the findings of several qualitative and quantitative research carried out during the pandemic mainly by government agencies and international organizations as OECD and WHO. The analysis of healthcare expenditure, labour market and economic conditions of households is based on data of system of health accounts – SHA and from consumer studies undertaken by the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT). The data on the financial situation and expectations of households during the crisis used in the article were drawn from special surveys carried out by the Bank of Italy.
Findings
What the authors observe in Italian society is not a collapse of the three pillars of social and system integration of contemporary societies: work, family and welfare. The COVID-19 pandemic has reversed two social and institutional trends, that in last two decades had damaged these spheres of life and that seemed relentless. First, what has been reversed are: the progressive privatization of welfare and the enhancement of the politics of retrenchment; second, values and styles of life, radical processes of individualization, that undermined mutual relations of support and care, and households' ability to cope with old and new risks. At the same time, the pandemic is radicalizing the long-lasting tendency towards job insecurity, a high incidence of low-paid workers and a high proportion of undeclared work. The highly differentiated impacts of the pandemic on these three spheres of life are creating a wider plurality of living conditions and risks.
Social implications
The findings suggest that what the authors need is to reopen the debate on welfare priorities, programmes and areas of intervention, on public-private relationship that have been established in many sectors of welfare in the last decades in many European countries. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance welfare programmes capable of recognising the autonomous capacities of the family and informal relations to produce well-being, to cope with the crisis and to produce supportive relationships.
Originality/value
The pandemic highlighted that a progressive reduction of expenditure and politics of retrenchment produced welfare not able to face the needs of a large part of households. The pandemic highlighted that the changes that have taken place in the sphere of work, welfare and of the family in the last years have produced less and less governable effects.
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Yussri Sawani, Corina Joseph and Siow Hoo Leong
This study aims to analyse the existing literature on factors motivating higher education institutions to disclose their Sustainability Development Goals initiatives.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to analyse the existing literature on factors motivating higher education institutions to disclose their Sustainability Development Goals initiatives.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used an interdisciplinary systematic review to develop a review protocol for Sustainability Development Goals and higher education institutions-related literature. Thematic analysis was performed using NVivo Release 1.4 to generate the theme related to the motivating factors of disclosure and further analysed using content analysis.
Findings
The study identified five clusters relating to Sustainability Development Goals and higher education institutions. The main subcategory consists solely of motivating factors as the main child note. The four main factors that motivate Higher Education Institutions to disclose their Sustainability Development Goals practices are the curriculum, research activities, human resource management and collaborations in research and operations.
Practical implications
This paper provides an overview of factors that contribute to Sustainable Development Goals disclosure among higher education institutions with regard to their primary functions of pioneering research, providing education, exercising governance and providing external leadership. Several implications in light of multiple stakeholders are provided in the paper.
Originality/value
This study is among the few studies that develop a review protocol for Sustainability Development Goals and higher education institutions-related literature. The review provides international overview of the current academic debate on the topic of Sustainability Development Goals disclosure.
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Noor Liza Adnan, Rokiah Muda, Wan Noor Hazlina Wan Jusoh and Rohana Yusoff
Academic vitality and burnout studies can help the university administrators and lecturers to develop a quality education and provide more conducive working environments. Hence…
Abstract
Purpose
Academic vitality and burnout studies can help the university administrators and lecturers to develop a quality education and provide more conducive working environments. Hence, understanding and fostering what contributes to faculty and institutional vitality is central to prevent burnout during times of change. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to investigate the level of vitality amongst lecturers in Malaysia and to see if there is any significant difference in vitality between the subgroups of the demographic variables.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was conducted on 379 academicians from selected public and private universities, polytechnics and university colleges. Data were collected via Survey Monkey application. Descriptive analysis was conducted where mean values, standard deviation and median were calculated. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to see whether there is significant difference in vitality between the subgroups of the demographic. Additionally, Box and Whiskers plot was used to analyse the outliers to further scrutinise the extremely low mean scores. Open ended responses were also analysed to support the statistical analysis.
Findings
Results obtained reveal that almost 25% of the respondents indicate high vitality; another 25% are moderately vital; while about 50% fall under the group of low to very low vitality. Only administrative posts were found to have a significant difference in overall vitality, while age, gender, number of children, income level, working experience and teaching field showed no significant difference.
Originality/value
This paper differs from other previous studies as it defined the different levels of vitality amongst academics based on quartiles. One important contribution of this paper is the use of the slider scale with percentage as the scoring units that provide an infinitesimal rating option that enriches the collected data and enables application of mathematical operations, such as the mean. The use of this slider scale had also facilitated the analysis of outliers due to the scale’s discriminative feature to scrutinise those considered as outliers.
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Balkis Kasmon, Siti Sara Ibrahim, Dalila Daud, Raja Rizal Iskandar Raja Hisham and Ririn Tri Ratnasari
This paper aims to explore the impact of digitalisation on waqf activities, focussing on blockchain, crowdfunding and artificial intelligence to predict future trends in…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the impact of digitalisation on waqf activities, focussing on blockchain, crowdfunding and artificial intelligence to predict future trends in digitalisation within waqf activities.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used a quantitative approach to combine the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and Diffusion of Innovation Theory (DIT) to comprehensively analyze the elements that affect the adoption of digital technology. SmartPLS software conducted the data analysis after collecting the data using SPSS. In this study, 310 respondents comprising Muslims who contribute to waqf were collected.
Findings
This research provides important insights into the elements influencing future behavior and can help policymakers promote and facilitate the digitalisation of waqf activities, not only in Malaysia but also in similar situations worldwide.
Research limitations/implications
Analysis indicated that four hypotheses were validated, implying that effort expectancy, compatibility, observability and trialability are significant determinants affecting intention. The findings suggest significant potential for further research. This paper delineates numerous methodological challenges and concerns while proposing recommendations for further research. Future research could use additional search phrases and engines not incorporated in this study to provide a more comprehensive overview. This study primarily concentrates on the applications of waqf development, digitalisation, blockchain, crowdfunding and artificial intelligence.
Practical implications
The four hypotheses regarding facilitating condition, performance expectation, relative advantage and social influence were not supported as they were found to have no significant impact on intention. For practitioners, based on the findings, it can give some insight into digitalisation’s influence on the intention of contributing to waqf in society. As for the researchers, there could be some ideas to study other than the factors mentioned in this study, as well as the supporting literature for their studies.
Originality/value
This paper provides useful insights on how emerging technology can potentially disrupt the traditional waqf landscape. It emphasizes the unique contributions of digitalization in improving transparency and accessibility, blockchain in ensuring security and trust, crowdfunding in mobilizing resources and artificial intelligence in optimizing decision-making processes.
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Robert Johnston and Panupak Pongatichat
The aim of this paper is to explore an important but relatively uncharted territory: the actual functioning of performance measurement systems (PMS) in their organisational…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to explore an important but relatively uncharted territory: the actual functioning of performance measurement systems (PMS) in their organisational context. The objective of the paper is to document the ways in which managers go about aligning operational measures with their organisation's strategy in practice.
Design/methodology/approach
This research adopts an interpretive multiple‐case approach in order to gather rich data on the strategies used in managing operational PMS. Data were collected from detailed interviews with managers and supervisors in four government agencies.
Findings
The expectations were that the operations managers would adjust their performance measures to support the changes in strategy. This was not the case. All the interviewees employed one or more tactics to cope with the tensions between strategy and performance measures. The ten tactics identified are collected into three strategies; do‐nothing strategy, pseudo‐realigning strategy, and distracting strategy.
Research limitations/implications
This paper casts some doubt on the practice, rather than the principle, of strategy‐aligned performance management. More work needs to be carried out to ascertain how other, both for profit and public sector, organisations deal with these tensions in practice.
Practical implications
From a practitioner point of view it raises the question as to whether senior managers are exerting sufficient control over the alignment issue or providing suitable tools, methods or indeed incentives to bring alignment about.
Originality/value
The paper highlights a gap between theory and practice and suggests that the way to ensure implementation of “modern management methods,” might be to deal firstly with the issues of relevance, timeliness, structure, integration, and symmetry.
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Alfonso J. Gil and Mara Mataveli
This paper aims to analyse the impact of organizational learning culture and learning facilitators in group learning.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to analyse the impact of organizational learning culture and learning facilitators in group learning.
Design/methodology/approach
This study was conducted using a survey method applied to a statistically representative sample of employees from Rioja wine companies in Spain. A model was tested using a structural equation model.
Findings
Statistical evidences suggest that both the learning culture and facilitators of group learning impact positively on group learning. In addition, it was found that the facilitation of learning has a positive influence on the learning culture.
Practical implications
From the paper, two sets of implications are extracted. The first is related to learning in the workplace – the importance of facilitating learning in group learning is emphasized. The second set refers to human resources development: organizational commitment to the development of informal learning is highlighted.
Originality/value
The paper explores the concept of learning culture and how it relates to the development of group learning, and an important system in the workplace is implemented.
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Alfonso J. Gil and Mara Mataveli
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of the processes of orientation and empowerment and the transfer of information in the learning culture.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of the processes of orientation and empowerment and the transfer of information in the learning culture.
Design/methodology/approach
The first hypothesis predicts that information mediates the relationship between orientation and empowerment processes and learning culture and the second hypothesis suggests that organisational size moderates the relationships between constructs. The empirical work is conducted in the wine industry in Spain through a structural equation analysis, partial least squares.
Findings
The hypothesis of mediation is confirmed; however, the hypothesis about size moderation is not confirmed.
Practical implications
The importance of the transfer of information in the foundation of a learning culture is highlighted and, therefore, its importance in the development of learning in organisations, especially in building learning organisations.
Originality/value
This research contributes to the literature on learning in organisations by sharing not only the characteristics that identify a learning culture, but also the mechanisms or processes through which a learning culture can be developed.