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The purpose of this paper is to explore what key competencies and characteristics of teachers are needed for integrated Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) teaching and to investigate teachers’ perceptions on how important those competencies are and how often they are executed.

An exploratory sequential mixed methods approach was used to investigate key characteristics of integrated STEM teaching competencies and the level of their importance and performance as perceived by teachers. By using behavioral event interview technique, qualitative data were collected from professional secondary teachers in science, math and technology subjects. An instrument was constructed based on the result of qualitative research; and a survey was conducted with 48 STEM teachers working in South Korea. The mean values between importance and performance of integrated STEM teaching competencies were compared. A perceived importance level of each item was compared with a practice level by using importance-performance analysis.

As a result of qualitative research, in total 21 items were constructed as detailed characteristics of each domain of integrated STEM teaching competencies, which provide insights about teachers’ perceptions of teaching competencies that are critical for integrated STEM education. A comparison of means between importance and performance of integrated STEM teaching competencies showed that whereas teachers considered each of these items to be of significant importance in their overall evaluation of the integrated STEM teaching competencies, they are not performing at a level that reflects the assigned importance.

This research results provide information for future research on how to implement an integrated STEM education initiative at the secondary school level, for planning teacher training programs, pre-service teacher education and related educational policies.

South Korea has focused on integrated STEM education to raise talented human resources in the fields of science and technology. However, many teachers have experienced serious difficulties and troubles in executing integrated STEM education. It is necessary to figure out key competencies and characteristics of teachers to facilitate integrated STEM teaching.

This study explores the influence of employee empathy on brand love, which subsequently affects customer advocacy, willingness to pay more (WTPM) and tolerance of failure. Additionally, it investigates the mediating role of customer delight and gratitude in connecting employee empathy with brand love and the moderating effect of power distance belief (PDB) between employee empathy and customer delight and gratitude.

A total of 751 usable data were gathered through scenario-based online surveys within a hotel context. The proposed conceptual model used Partial Least Squares - Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) for testing.

The results affirm the impact of employee empathy on brand love through the pathways of customer delight and gratitude, ultimately influencing positive customer behaviors, such as advocacy, WTPM and tolerance of failure. Moreover, the findings suggest that PDB diminishes the effect of employee empathy on customer gratitude, although it does not affect customer delight.

The study introduces novel insights into the significance of employee empathy as an antecedent of brand love. It contributes to the literature by concurrently conceptualizing customer delight and gratitude as mediators between employee empathy and brand love, consequently leading to favorable consumer behaviors. Furthermore, it advances our theoretical comprehension of an individual customer’s PDB and its psychological impact.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the evolution of the food traceability system in China, examine factors that affect consumers' perception of a food traceability system, and determine their willingness to pay for having the system.

Beijing, one of the largest pork markets in urban China, was chosen and 400 consumers were randomly interviewed using questionnaires and finally a logistic model was employed to analyze consumers' willingness to pay for traceable pork.

The authors found that consumers' perception of pork traceability system is subject to a comparatively low level. Purchasing of traceable pork is affected by gender, self‐evaluation of health, awareness of the traceability system, concern about food safety, and the stochastic price willing to pay.

The paper is the first to quantify Chinese consumers' valuation for traceable pork and it helps pork producers and marketers understand consumers' willingness to pay a small premium of 4.5 RMB/kg (0.7 USD) for traceable pork. This finding has imperative policy implications that could help the government deal with the high cost associated with the use of a pork traceability system.

This study aims to examine the formal and metric properties of Gil et al.’s (2000) scale of attitudes toward organic products, which is the most popular scale to measure these attitudes.

The sample consisted of 4,992 household shoppers living in Hong Kong, Germany, Norway, Spain and the UK. The questionnaire was distributed using a third-party consumer panel, and the fieldwork was conducted using computer-assisted Web interviewing. The approach was based on confirmatory factor analysis and measurement of invariance, as well as format analysis using a wording-syntactic and semantic descriptive method.

The scale reflects an attitude-toward-object model approach. Its use has been heavily varied (in terms of wording, item semantics and the attributes to be measured). A two-factor structure that meets the metric conditions (reliability and validity) is found. However, the analysis of invariance shows that the scale behaves differently in different countries.

This scale offers a good starting point for measuring attitudes toward organic products. However, it requires refinement to adapt to consumer evolution and improve its metric validity. Verification of its applicability in cross-national studies is recommended.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that assesses the format and quantitative characteristics of this scale on a cross-national level. For scholars and companies with international interests, preventing the use of scales with poor properties at the transnational level can improve the design of future studies and save money through a more informed choice of attitudinal scale.

Este estudio examina las propiedades formales y métricas de la escala de actitudes hacia los productos orgánicos de Gil et al. (2000), que es la escala más popular para medir estas actitudes.

La muestra incluye 4.992 compradores principales en hogares de Hong Kong, Alemania, Noruega, España y el Reino Unido. El cuestionario se distribuyó utilizando un panel de consumidores, y el trabajo de campo se llevó a cabo mediante entrevistas online asistidas por ordenador. El enfoque se basó en un análisis factorial confirmatorio y en la invariancia de las medidas, así como en un análisis del formato utilizando un método descriptivo de redacción-sintáctico-semántico.

La escala refleja un enfoque de actitud basada en el objeto. Su uso ha sido muy variado (en redacción, semántica de sus redacciones y los atributos que mide). Se encuentra una estructura de dos factores que cumple con las condiciones métricas (fiabilidad y validez). Sin embargo, el análisis de invariancia muestra que la escala se comporta de manera diferente en distintos países.

Esta escala ofrece un buen punto de partida para medir las actitudes hacia los productos orgánicos, pero requiere un refinamiento para adaptarse a la evolución del consumidor y para mejorar su validez métrica. Se recomienda verificar su aplicabilidad en los estudios internacionales comparados.

Este es el primer estudio que evalúa el formato y las características cuantitativas de esta escala a nivel internacional. Para los académicos y las empresas con intereses internacionales, evitar el uso de escalas con propiedades deficientes a nivel transnacional puede mejorar el diseño de futuros estudios y ahorrar dinero a través de una elección más informada de la escala actitudinal.

Actitudes, Productos orgánicos, Estudio transnacional, Análisis factorial confirmatorio, Validación de la escala

Artículo de investigación.

Companies should enhance their market position and competitiveness by improving staff effectiveness, skills, resource commitment, and applying relevant managerial methods. This study aims to examine the impact of knowledge management (KM) and total quality management (TQM) on employee effectiveness (EE) and supply chain performance (SCP) in emerging economies.

The used methodology consists on conducting a survey within Tunisian companies, where the authors gathered 206 responses. Collected data was analyzed using statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) software, enabling the authors to establish a conceptual model. This model was further examined through structural equation modeling, using analysis of moment structures (AMOS) software for hypothesis validation. Additionally, the authors’ research aimed to enhance SCP and boost EE while minimizing costs through a nonlinear mathematical model and the quality function deployment method.

The results indicate that TQM and KM positively impact EE, and KM and EE positively impact SCP. However, the significance of employee performance on SCP varies depending on company location and industry sector studied.

This work emphasized the involvement of small- and medium-sized enterprise managers from emerging economies in the studied concepts and confirmed the effects of KM and TQM practices on EE and SCP.