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The purpose of this paper is to determine the effect of high-performance human resource practices on job satisfaction across four cultural regions – Asia, Europe, North America, and Latin America. High-performance human resource practices were used to predict job satisfaction for each region and then compared to determine significant differences. Hofstede's cultural dimensions were employed as a basis for structuring hypothesized differences across cultural regions.

Data were collected from a proprietary industry survey on employee work attitudes. The sample consisted of over 70,000 employees from four large multinational organizations with at least four offices in each of the four regions. Data were analyzed using regression analysis and comparison testing across models.

There are significant relationships between job characteristics and job satisfaction across all regions of the world, with a sense of achievement universally the most important driver. Although job characteristics impact job satisfaction across all regions, there are significant differences in the relative importance of job characteristics on job satisfaction, consistent with Hofstede's cultural dimensions.

The findings have implications for tailoring human resource management practices across locations within multinationals.

This research is believed to be the first cross-cultural study of human resource practices affecting job satisfaction using multiple organizations and industries.

Comprehensive urban management (CUM), with specified philosophical and technical limits, can address the negative consequences of the interrelationship between increasing urban poor population, spatial expansion of squalor and informal settlement on marginalised urban lands, overburdened and old urban infrastructure and increase in frequency and intensity of natural hazards. The research places these four concerns within the urbanisation context of the Kingston Metropolitan Region (KMR) in Jamaica, where their expressions are related to the lack of effective urban management and planning. The research uses a mixture of secondary information, from a myriad of public and private institutions and field surveys in the forms of observations and questionnaires. The cause and effects interrelationship between the factors are presented in a problem tree and analysed and discussed against known facts and theoretical posits. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The research draws from a litany of document analysis, qualitative research as well as pre-coded questionnaires, field research and expert interviews and discussions with urban managers. Information and data selected from state and quasi-state agencies also proved valuable. Additionally, other relevant materials were sourced from the published domain including publications, journal articles, newspapers, textbooks and internet (online professional group discussions), etc.

Increase in urban poor over the last ten years increase in squalor settlements on marginal urban lands. Urban infrastructure is old and overburdened. Natural hazards are on the increase and are associated with negative demographic and social dynamics. Development plan and planning is lacking in the KMR. Urban management roles and responsibilities are not clearly defined. There are gaps and overlaps in roles and legislations. CUM needs redefinition for it to be effective in solving this relationship. Limits can be set for defining comprehensive urban planning.

Space to explore more the relationship and evidences of the factor under investigation to their fullest extent.

Investments in urban infrastructure and other built environment and physical structures in important for urban resilience to hazards. Non-traditional countries and agencies are good source of financial and technical support for developing countries to improve their urban and national physical and social infrastructure. Urban land management and administration are crucial or urban spatial planning and land use.

The four factors under investigation, even though they are not novel in their individual treatment, are however original in the context of assessing their interrelationship and moreover their relationship with CUM. A redefinition of CUM is attempted to give stated criticisms of its past failures. The application to Jamaica and its potential application to other small island developing states are unique.

In India, the number of migrants to urban areas is increasing over time. Unlike in earlier years where male migration was prominent, recent trend shows an increasing trend of female and family migration. As migration and health status are highly correlated, the nature of relationship deserves greater attention from researchers. Although literature on internal migration in India is abundant, little attention is given to the research on the effect of migration on the health status of children. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The present paper, based on National Family Health Survey 3 data, examines the health status of migrant and non-migrant children in the urban areas of India.

Distribution according to social and demographic characteristics is disadvantageous for urban children who are born to migrant women. As seen from various child health indicators, urban children’s health in general and the health situation of migrant women’s children in particular leaves much to be desired. Pattern of migration tends to have an impact on child health in urban areas; children of women who migrate from rural areas are in an adverse position. Duration of migration has a negative influence on health status of urban children. Overall, it was found that migration status of mothers has an independent effect on child health outcomes; children of migrant mothers have a lower health status.

This paper fulfills the need to study the health status of migrant and non-migrant children in the urban areas of India.

This article seeks to address aviation as an emerging biofuel consumer and to discuss sustainability issues and consequences for feedstock production concepts. Biojet fuels have been identified as a promising, readily deployable alternative to fossil‐based aviation fuels. At the same time they are highly criticised as their production may have negative social and environmental impacts. Therefore, the paper aims to identify major sustainability issues and assessment challenges and relate these to the production of biojet fuel feedstock.

Two plant oil production concepts are presented that address the sustainability issues discussed. Both concepts are being investigated within the research project “Platform for Sustainable Aviation Fuels”. A literature‐based overview of sustainability issues and assessment challenges is provided. Additionally, conceptual insights into new plant oil production concepts are presented.

The use of biojet fuels is often hailed as a strategy for the aviation industry to become more sustainable. However, biofuels are not necessarily sustainable and their potential to reduce GHG emissions is highly debated. Several unresolved sustainability issues are identified highlighting the need for improved assessment methods. Moreover, the two concepts presented have the potential to provide sustainably grown feedstock, but further empirical research is needed.

This article addresses researchers and practitioners by providing an overview of sustainability issues and assessment challenges related to biojet fuels. Consequences are identified for two plant oil feedstock concepts: catch cropping in temperate regions and silvopastoral systems in tropical and subtropical regions.

This article aims to investigate the impact of (1) the establishment of a refugee settlement, (2) the energy demand of a host and refugee population, (3) the residence time of refugees and (4) interventions in the energy sector on sustainable utilization of the forest.

Refugee movements from the Democratic Republic of Congo and settlement construction in a Zambian host society provide the setting. An agent-based model is developed. It uses survey data from 277 Zambian households, geographic information system coordinates and supplementary data inputs.

The future forest stock remains up to 30 years without an influx of refugees. Refugee developments completely deplete the forest over time. The settlement construction severely impacts the forest, while refugees' energy needs seem less significant. Compared with the repatriation of refugees, permanent integration has no influential impact on forest resources. Interventions in the energy sector through alternative sources slow down deforestation. Once a camp is constructed, tree cutting by hosts causes forest covers to decline even if alternative energy is provided.

The analysis is useful for comparable host–refugee settings and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees interventions in settlement situations. Forest and energy sector interventions should involve host and refugee stakeholders.

This article adds value through an agent-based model in the Zambian deforestation–refugee context. The study has a pilot character within the United Nation's Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework. It fills a gap in long-term assessments of refugee presence in local host communities.

The debate concerning the relationship between maternal education and child nutritional status is not a foregone conclusion. This paper aims to contribute to the existing debate by examining this relationship for the case of Uganda.

Theoretically, the study was based on household models of optimization, just like in the standard consumer theory, to gain insights into household demand for the health good. Empirically, the paper employed maximum-likelihood probit models and computed marginal effects in order to obtain logically interpretable results.

The paper finds that once the socio-economic factors are controlled for, the significance of maternal education, especially primary and secondary levels, in influencing child nutrition status decays but post-secondary education persists. Therefore, if mothers are exposed to the same socio-economic conditions, it is education of the mother beyond secondary level that generates a difference in the child nutrition outcomes.

These findings suggest that efforts to improve the child health outcomes in the future need to target measures that aim to educate women beyond secondary level. The government program to extend free education at the secondary level is a good start and should be strengthened.

Literature presents no consensus on the effect of maternal education and child nutritional status. It is often argued that maternal education is simply a proxy for the socio-economic conditions and geographical area of residence such its significance decays once these are controlled for. Yet others argue that maternal education is a single most important factor influencing child nutritional outcomes. The debate is still very hot and this study sought to contribute to this debate for the case of Uganda.

This paper aims to examine how the quality of work-life (QWL) factors influence job satisfaction and tests if organization type moderates this relationship.

The study adopts a quantitative cross-sectional research design using survey administration among resident doctors used in the Indian health-care sector. Drawing on the person-environment fit theory, leader-member exchange theory and action learning theory, the authors discuss the results.

Results depicted that in addition to the direct relationship between QWL and job satisfaction, this association is moderated by organization type.

The study provides critical information for health-care managers to prioritize three QWL attributes, namely, meaningful development, supervision, working conditions to enhance job satisfaction among resident doctors.

The study contributes to the limited empirical scholarly research adding a deeper understanding of pertinent factors influencing resident doctor’s QWL-job satisfaction relationship.

This paper aims to investigate the influencing dynamics of culture (national and organizational), employee characteristics, employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment in determining the organizational performances of firms in the retail banking sector in a developing country such as Ghana.

A conceptual framework linking national and organizational cultures to employees’ job satisfaction, job characteristics, organizational commitment and organizational performance was developed, and their measurement scales were adapted to guide the empirical investigation. Data were collected using a questionnaire filled in by 300 employees in nine retail banks in Ghana. The results were first analyzed by carrying out data reduction of the measured scales by using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences-based factor analysis approach. The reduced data obtained from the factor analysis were then analyzed for model goodness fit by using the Analysis of Moment Structures-based structural equation modeling approach.

Effective organizational performance of retail banks in Ghana is directly influenced by the relationships among organizational culture, employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment.

The study sample was drawn from a single sub-sector of the Ghanaian economy. Replications and extensions of the study in different sectors that are experiencing high growth will help test the robustness and generalizability of the findings.

The study provides empirical knowledge that could be used to understand the influencing interrelationships among organizational culture, employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment on the organizational performances of retail banking firms in a developing country context.

The study adds to the literature as one of the most comprehensive studies of the links between culture, job satisfaction, employee characteristics and organizational commitment toward organizational performance within the banking sector in Ghana to date.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of budget participation conflict (BPC) on job performance and the mediating effect of job satisfaction and job tenure on this relationship in a South Korean setting. BPC is defined as the difference between a manager’s actual budget participation and the same manager’s preferred level of budget participation.

Survey data, analyzed using path analysis, were used to measure the direct effect of BPC on performance, and the indirect effects between BPC and performance running through job satisfaction and job tenure.

Findings suggest that BPC does not directly impact job performance. Overall, this study suggests that BPC has a negative impact on job satisfaction and that job satisfaction in turn can significantly influence job performance. The authors also find some marginal effect of job satisfaction on job tenure, implying that increasing satisfaction can marginally increase job tenure.

Limitations of this study are those usually found in cross-sectional survey research.

Despite its limitations, this study has both academic and practical implications. The study adds to the job performance literature in an Asian country which has not been widely researched. The study also finds that managers’ job performance and job satisfaction can be improved by minimizing BPC. Future research should study other variables that influence job performance of South Korean managers.

Banking industry forms a part of financial services that has emerged itself as the most important source for India’s economic growth. Job satisfaction of employees is one of the important pre-requisites to ensure smooth functioning of banks. The purpose of this paper is to explore the association of job satisfaction with the quality of work life factors of bank employees (n=300), followed by the essential influential relationship of these concepts with socio-demographic characteristics, thereby, proving its own distinct contribution to the subsist body of literature.

This study has considered five private sector banks in India and has used the technique of multi-stage sampling to collect primary data. The respondents from different cadres, namely, executive, associate and manager involved in customer-oriented interactions participated in this survey. The analysis has been conducted by applying descriptive statistics, regression analysis (impact of the quality of work life factors on job satisfaction) and χ² statistics (association of the quality of work life and job satisfaction with socio-demographic variables). The results have been compared with the Herzberg Theory of Job Satisfaction.

The results of the study show the presence of variance (R² 61.40 percent) in job satisfaction as explained by the quality of work life constructs. The unconducive work environment has confirmed negative association with job satisfaction. The study foresees to contribute useful information to the top management level in the organizations to enhance employees’ overall job satisfaction.

The opaqueness with which the Indian banking industry has its roots and existence in India, the present study clearly has limits: the small size of the sample and the study considered only private sector banks.

A planned approach at organizational and individual level is highly recommended. The bank management must realize the importance of their devoted staff by giving them quality work environment. The initiatives like regular exercise routines can be adopted to reduce stress. Some respondents expressed the need for intercity branch associations, which can help them to solve common problems, better learning opportunities with an informal atmosphere along with other training sessions organized formally.

The paper gives a theoretical explanation of the quality of work life and job satisfaction factors in the Indian private banks falling under the umbrella of Indian banking industry with respect to the employees of private sector banks.