Samina M. Saifuddin, Lorraine Dyke and Md. Sajjad Hossain
This study aims to identify women professionals' strategies to persist in the male-dominated technology industry situated in the Bangladeshi socio-cultural context.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to identify women professionals' strategies to persist in the male-dominated technology industry situated in the Bangladeshi socio-cultural context.
Design/methodology/approach
In-depth interviews with women tech professionals were conducted to identify and explore the strategies. Thematic coding was used for data analysis.
Findings
The findings suggest that the complex interplay of macro-, meso- and micro-factors pushes women to defy societal and gender norms in their choice and persistence, yet they simultaneously conform to these norms. By simultaneous expressions of doing and undoing gender, these women dealt with hierarchies and inequalities, navigated masculinized industry and empowered themselves within a patriarchal culture. The strategies effectively allowed them to demonstrate agency and persist in tech occupations.
Research limitations/implications
The study participants were women and recruited using snowball sampling. Future research could benefit from recruiting a larger, more varied sample using random sampling.
Practical implications
The study can inform teaching and policy initiatives to increase women's representation in tech sectors through awareness campaigns, policy interventions and counseling.
Originality/value
The research extends the doing and undoing framework by integrating the relational perspective to explain women's agency and resilience situated in a patriarchal context. The paper focuses on women's micro-individual strategies to navigate macro- and meso-level forces. Moreover, Bangladesh is an under-researched context, and findings from the study can help design potential intervention strategies to increase women's participation.
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Sardana Islam Khan, Timothy Bartram, Jillian Cavanagh, Md Sajjad Hossain and Silvia Akter
The purpose of this paper is to examine the perspectives of 26 business owners, managers and supervisors on “decent work” (DW) in the ready-made garment (RMG) sector in Bangladesh.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the perspectives of 26 business owners, managers and supervisors on “decent work” (DW) in the ready-made garment (RMG) sector in Bangladesh.
Design/methodology/approach
The qualitative study draws on a framework of ethical human resource management and situated moral agency to establish the ways in which RMG workers are afforded DW. This study uses semi-structured interviews to assess the prospect of DW through applying the ILO’s four-pillar framework of DW.
Findings
Findings indicate there is a concern among owners and managers of the need to reconcile internal and external pressures to maintain and improve DW. It is evident that ethical practices and moral agency are not self-initiated but in response to mounting political and legal pressures and those of external stakeholders. Employers favour the concept of workers’ participation committees as one means to communicate and negotiate with workers rather than recognise trade unions.
Research limitations/implications
The research is limited to six organisations in the RMG sector in Bangladesh, but there are implications for all RMG sector organisations to promote reform and DW for all workers.
Practical implications
DW necessitates major national and international stakeholders to negotiate and cooperate to ensure the long-term competitiveness and survival of the Bangladeshi RMG sector.
Originality/value
The study calls for reform in a developing country where many workers are denied DW.
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Samina Saifuddin, Lorraine Dyke and Md Sajjad Hossain
The purpose of this paper is to create a nuanced understanding of the barriers women high-tech professionals face in Bangladesh. The main aim is to identify the extent to which…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to create a nuanced understanding of the barriers women high-tech professionals face in Bangladesh. The main aim is to identify the extent to which these barriers are common across different contexts and to explore the barriers that are unique and situated in the local socio-cultural context.
Design/methodology/approach
In-depth interviews with high-tech professionals were conducted to identify and explore the barriers.
Findings
Although some of the barriers are common across different contexts, most of the barriers women professionals face arise due to the interaction between situated socio-cultural practices and gender. The dynamics of socio-cultural and patriarchal norms reinforce gender biases and gendered practices that afford men with greater control over resources and systematically limit women’s access to opportunities.
Research limitations/implications
The study recruited 35 participants using snowball sampling. From a methodological perspective, future research could benefit from recruiting a larger, more varied sample using random sampling.
Practical implications
Women experience barriers due to both internal organizational features and external contextual barriers. The findings suggest that some of these barriers can be removed through governmental and organizational policies and through appropriate intervention strategies delivered in partnership with governmental and non-governmental organizations.
Originality/value
The study makes a unique contribution by using a macro-social lens to analyze the meso-organizational practices and micro-individual phenomena thereby providing a holistic view of the barriers faced by women professionals in Bangladesh.
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Alain Klarsfeld, Lena Knappert, Angela Kornau, Faith Wambura Ngunjiri and Barbara Sieben
The purpose of this paper is to further restore diversity and equality to its national contexts by presenting new and so far less visible perspectives from under-researched…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to further restore diversity and equality to its national contexts by presenting new and so far less visible perspectives from under-researched countries.
Design/methodology/approach
This special issue consists of five articles representing four countries and one country-cluster: Bangladesh, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ethiopia, Korea and the English-speaking Caribbean. Three of the contributions are focused on gender diversity, while the remaining two are more general descriptions of diversity challenges and policies in the respective countries (namely, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the English-speaking Caribbean).
Findings
In addition to providing an overview of this issue’s articles, this paper highlights developments and current themes in country-specific equality and diversity scholarship. In particular, drawing on the special issue’s five papers, and building on the main threads that weave the special issue together, the authors show both the relevance of (some) western theories while also pointing to the need for reformulation of others.
Research limitations/implications
The authors conclude with a call to further explore under-researched contexts and especially to develop locally relevant, culture-sensitive theoretical frameworks.
Originality/value
How do smaller and less developed countries experience equality and diversity concepts? How are their approaches different from those experienced in already researched countries, or, on the contrary, what commonalities can be found found among them? How do theoretical frameworks originated in the West apply (or not) in these less studied countries? Are new, locally grounded frameworks needed to better capture the developments at play? Such are questions addressed by the contributions to this special issue.
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Mohitul Ameen Ahmed Mustafi and Md Sajjad Hosain
The paper aims at identifying the role of online advertising on the purchase intention (PI) of smartphones of Bangladeshi customers. The independent variable (online advertising…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims at identifying the role of online advertising on the purchase intention (PI) of smartphones of Bangladeshi customers. The independent variable (online advertising) has been divided into five dimensional segregations: informativeness (INFO), irritation (IRR), entertainment (ENT), incentives (INC) and credibility (CRD). For increasing the value of investigation to further extent, the authors included two mediators termed as flow experience (FE) and advertising value (ADD).
Design/methodology/approach
The study has been conducted on primary data collected through a structured questionnaire received from a valid sample of 281 smartphone users selected on a random basis. SPSS (Version 24) has been used for descriptive statistical analysis, while structural equation modeling technique (utilizing AMOS 24) has been used to test the hypothetical relationships among the variables.
Findings
After a careful and bias-free statistical analysis, the results indicate that purchase intention is positively and significantly affected by all the independent components INFO, IRR, ENT, INC and CRD. Regarding the mediating effect, FE can partially mediate the relationships between IRR and PI and ENT and PI as both the direct and indirect effects are significant. On the other hand, ADD can partially mediate the relationships between IRR and PI and INC and PI, respectively, since both the direct and indirect effects are significant.
Research limitations/implications
This empirical study is expected to be beneficial for the academicians in finding some unique dimensional aspects regarding online advertising and purchase intentions.
Practical implications
The policymakers can formulate some unique online advertising policies with a view to identifying customer psychology and increase sales volume based on the findings.
Originality/value
Smartphone market in Bangladesh is growing steadily. This empirical paper has shed some lights on the unique role of online advertising on PI of smartphones of Bangladeshi customer base. Since the market scenario in Bangladesh is somewhat unique than those of Western and Eastern countries, the authors hope that the findings will add numerical theoretical and practical values for further investigation in South Asian markets.
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Md Sajjad Hosain, Mohitul Ameen Ahmed Mustafi and Tania Parvin
This paper aims to identify the factors that can affect the overall graduate employability (OGE) of the private university graduates of Bangladesh. The authors carefully selected…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to identify the factors that can affect the overall graduate employability (OGE) of the private university graduates of Bangladesh. The authors carefully selected six such employable factors after searching the existing literature. Those six factors: academic performance (AP), technical skills (TS), communication skills (CS), personality (PE), leadership & motivational skills (LMS); and teamwork and problem solving skills (TPSS), had been considered as the independent variables while OGE had been considered as the single dependent variable.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors collected the primary data from a valid sample of 360 employers through a structured questionnaire working as the hiring managers. Those respondents were selected on a random basis. The authors used exploratory factor analysis to validate the items under those independent variables and structural equation modeling with AMOS (24) to test the hypothesized relationship between each independent variable and the dependent one.
Findings
After proper statistical analysis, the results revealed that AP, PE, CS and TPSS can positively and significantly influence the OGE of Bangladeshi graduates while LMS and TS have positive but insignificant influence over OGE.
Research limitations/implications
Based on the findings, this paper can help scholars in further investigating the employability factors.
Practical implications
This explorative study will guide the fresh graduates in developing their required employability skills while assisting the employers in recruiting suitable candidates with the required skills and performance.
Originality/value
This is one of the few attempts that focused on the employability factors of private university graduates in Bangladesh. The authors are well confident that this empirical paper can shed some light on the fresh graduates’ employability and conducting further investigations on it.
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Mohitul Ameen Ahmed Mustafi, Ya-juan Dong and Md Sajjad Hosain
At present, for any product, smooth marketing has become a major challenge due to the novel market challenges as well as sudden and extended changes. Thus, the concerns for the…
Abstract
Purpose
At present, for any product, smooth marketing has become a major challenge due to the novel market challenges as well as sudden and extended changes. Thus, the concerns for the marketers are essential to consider the choice of buyers and also to satisfy them. The purpose of this empirical research is to focus on the role of three organizational attributes (OA): job satisfaction (JS), organizational commitment (OC) and extrinsic motivation (EM) on the marketing performance (MP) mediated by the Chief Marketing Officers' (CMOs') political skill (CPS) in the telecommunication industries of China, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Sri Lanka.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, based on 132 survey responses collected from CMOs, the authors conducted descriptive statistics using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS-25) and tested the assumed hypotheses through covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) using AMOS software (version 25).
Findings
The authors found that JS has an insignificant role on MP while OC and EM have significant positive roles over the dependent variable. CPS has also a significant positive influence over MP. Further, the authors identified that CPS can fully mediate the relationship between JS and MP while it can partially mediate the relationship between OC and MP. On the other hand, CPS cannot mediate the relationship between EM and MP at all.
Originality/value
According to authors’ knowledge, this is one of the very limited initial attempts that have investigated the role of three important OA on the MP testing the mediating effect of CPS. The authors expect that the study outcomes will have an enormous impact on marketing academia as a torch-bearing research as well as for CMOs for formulating an effective marketing policy.
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Mohitul Ameen Ahmed Mustafi, Ya-Juan Dong and Md Sajjad Hosain
Effective green supply chain management (GSCM) has become a potentially valuable tool of securing competitive advantage and improving operational performance (OP) as competition…
Abstract
Purpose
Effective green supply chain management (GSCM) has become a potentially valuable tool of securing competitive advantage and improving operational performance (OP) as competition is no longer exists between the firms but within green supply chains. The aim of this empirical study is to determine the link between GSCM practices (GSCMPs) and OP within the manufacturing sector of Bangladesh mediated by perceived competitive advantage (PCA). GSCMPs were divided into three further dimensions: green eco-design (GED), green supply chain partnering (GSCP) and internal green orientation (IGO).
Design/methodology/approach
The study selected 376 individuals as respondents who work as the top-level managers and the members of the Board of Directors at different Bangladeshi manufacturing firms through purposive sampling. A partial least square-based structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was utilized to identify the relationships between the three dimensions of, GSCMPs, and the single dependent variable, OP.
Findings
The study identified that two factors, GED and GSCP, have significant positive relationships with OP. On the other hand, another factor, IGO has a statistically insignificant relationship with OP. Regarding the mediating effects, the study identified that PCA can fully mediate the insignificant relationship between IGO and OP, and partially mediate the significant relationship between GSCP and OP. On the contrary, PCA has no mediating effect on the relationship between GED and OP.
Originality/value
This empirical study is an effort that examined the role of GSCMPs on the OP in the Bangladeshi manufacturing context. It is believed that this empirical investigation will prompt future theoretical studies and empirical experiments to enrich academia. Further, the findings of this study can serve as foundational guidance for policymakers and/or managers studying the formulation and implementation of GSCMP-related policies and strategies.
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Md Sajjad Hosain and Abdullah Mohammad Ahshanul Mamun
This study intends to explore the connection between Facebook-based social media marketing (FSMM) and Facebook-based online purchase order (FOPO) for 20 popular online fashion…
Abstract
Purpose
This study intends to explore the connection between Facebook-based social media marketing (FSMM) and Facebook-based online purchase order (FOPO) for 20 popular online fashion retail brands across three South Asian countries: India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. FSMM was further divided into four components: Perceived trust (PT), Perceived informativeness (PInf), Perceived interactivity (PInt) and Perceived benefit (PB).
Design/methodology/approach
The authors selected 20 popular Facebook-based online fashion brands involved in clothing and fashion accessories businesses in those three countries. Later, the authors purposively selected 114 region-based Facebook page administrators (admins) responsible for operating those brands' Facebook pages and taking Facebook-based online orders. The authors collected primary data from those admins as respondents through a structured survey instrument. The authors applied SPSS 25 for descriptive analysis and a covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) (through AMOS 25) for testing the hypothesized relations.
Findings
Based on the valid responses and application of proper statistical measures, it was revealed that three FSMM components: PT, PInf and PB have significant positive relationships with FOPO, while PInt has an insignificant relationship with FOPO.
Originality/value
South Asia is a growing business hub and the largest consumer market in terms of population. This study was conducted to identify the relationship between FSMM and FOPO in the three most prominent South Asian countries. As the first study was undertaken ever on customer perceptions of FSMM in a multi-country South Asian context, this paper is expected to be helpful for academics in conducting further empirical investigations on Facebook-based marketing as well as practitioners and policymakers in formulating and implementing Facebook-based marketing strategies.
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Amrit Thapa, Mary Khan, Will L. H. Zemp and James Gazawie
This paper provides a snapshot of educational and economic trends across South Asia with an exploratory and comparative approach. Before COVID-19, South Asia was the world’s…
Abstract
This paper provides a snapshot of educational and economic trends across South Asia with an exploratory and comparative approach. Before COVID-19, South Asia was the world’s fastest-growing regional economy, concurrently achieving major strides in poverty reduction and access to education. Despite the region’s economic and educational accomplishments, the countries of South Asia fall short of international benchmarks in public education expenditure, resulting in a persistent lag in educational quality that hampers individuals, the workforce, and overall economic productivity. The paper highlights themes in the literature, including context-specific evidence for the various theories of economic growth, the returns to education, and educational inputs (e.g., teachers and private schools) that highlight how spending can be leveraged to increase educational outcomes. In addition, it examines the relationship between education, poverty, and marginalization factors that explain why some populations are deprived of education and its benefits. We provide a broad perspective of the dynamics of the economics of education and the related challenges in this region. This discussion aims to enhance the understanding of the inefficiencies in South Asia’s educational systems and, ultimately, in the development of the region’s human capacities.