Natalia Larraz, Sandra Vázquez and Marta Liesa
The purpose of this study is to analyze and assess the impact of cooperative learning in the acquisition of generic skills in teaching students.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to analyze and assess the impact of cooperative learning in the acquisition of generic skills in teaching students.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology underlying this research has a qualitative orientation. An ad hoc questionnaire has been used as an instrument, in addition to a team notebook, and the observation as procedure to analyze the perceptions of the students in the process.
Findings
The main results indicate that thanks to the active methodologies, more specifically, the cooperative learning, students develop and improve transferable skills, such as negotiation, leadership, teamwork, reflection, etc. Similarly, the authors have observed improvements in the classroom environment and their social interactions.
Research limitations/implications
The limitations and possible implications of this study are in the direction of analyzing the implemented cooperative learning methodology techniques to observe the existence of differences in learning. Moreover, they are also related to the analyzing of individual implications for teamwork to assess group learning and its influence on motivation and teamwork. Finally, they are related to the analysis of the involvement of observation and self-regulatory mechanisms in the teamwork learning.
Practical implications
With this research, the authors incise in the necessary methodological change in universities, responding to the demands of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and highlight the importance of using active methodologies.
Social implications
Cooperative learning is an effective teacher training tool for future teachers who will have to develop in an interpersonal context and, in turn, will teach students who need to acquire a personal and social skills.
Originality/value
This paper evaluates the impact of using active methodologies and how they contribute to the development of transversal or generic competencies in a real context of university learning.
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Sandra Castro-González, Belén Bande and Guadalupe Vila-Vázquez
The purpose of this study is understanding how companies can improve sales force performance is a key issue. Despite this, the study of the impact that corporate social…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is understanding how companies can improve sales force performance is a key issue. Despite this, the study of the impact that corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices might have on salespeople’s performance has been neglected in the sales literature.
Design/methodology/approach
Using data provided by 176 salesperson–supervisor dyads and through structural equation modeling and conditional process analysis, empirical evidence confirms the hypotheses.
Findings
Certainly, the findings confirm that salespeople’s performance is influenced by their CSR perception, not directly but through their pride and organizational commitment. Furthermore, the results improve when considering the intervention of a responsible leader. The paper also identifies the management implications and makes some recommendations for upcoming studies.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to fill this gap by examining the effect of salespeople’s CSR perception on their job performance through organizational pride and organizational commitment. Additionally, it is suggested that the exercise of responsible leadership by the supervisor strengthens the previous indirect relationship, moderating the influence of salesperson’s organizational pride on their commitment.
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Francisco Javier Plascencia Jauregui, Agustín Santiago Medina Vazquez, Edwin Christian Becerra Alvarez, José Manuel Arce Zavala and Sandra Fabiola Flores Ruiz
This study aims to present a mathematical method based on Poisson’s equation to calculate the voltage and volume charge density formed in the substrate under the floating gate…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to present a mathematical method based on Poisson’s equation to calculate the voltage and volume charge density formed in the substrate under the floating gate area of a multiple-input floating-gate metal-oxide semiconductor metal-oxide semiconductor (MOS) transistor.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on this method, the authors calculate electric fields and electric potentials from the charges generated when voltages are applied to the control gates (CG). This technique allows us to consider cases when the floating gate has any trapped charge generated during the manufacturing process. Moreover, the authors introduce a mathematical function to describe the potential behavior through the substrate. From the resultant electric field, the authors compute the volume charge density at different depths.
Findings
The authors generate some three-dimensional graphics to show the volume charge density behavior, which allows us to predict regions in which the volume charge density tends to increase. This will be determined by the voltages on terminals, which reveal the relationship between CG and volume charge density and will allow us to analyze some superior-order phenomena.
Originality/value
The procedure presented here and based on coordinates has not been reported before, and it is an aid to generate a model of the device and to build simulation tools in an analog design environment.
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Cheddi Kiravu, François Diaz-Maurin, Mario Giampietro, Alan C. Brent, Sandra G.F. Bukkens, Zivayi Chiguvare, Mandu A. Gasennelwe-Jeffrey, Gideon Gope, Zora Kovacic, Lapologang Magole, Josephine Kaviti Musango, Ulpiano Ruiz-Rivas Hernando, Suzanne Smit, Antonio Vázquez Barquero and Felipe Yunta Mezquita
This paper aims to present a new master’s programme for promoting energy access and energy efficiency in Southern Africa.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present a new master’s programme for promoting energy access and energy efficiency in Southern Africa.
Design/methodology/approach
A transdisciplinary approach called “participatory integrated assessment of energy systems” (PARTICIPIA) was used for the development of the curriculum. This approach is based on the two emerging fields of “multi-scale integrated assessment” and “science for governance”, which bring innovative concepts and methods.
Findings
The application of the PARTICIPIA methodology to three case studies reveals that the proposed transdisciplinary approach could support energy and development policies in the region. The implementation of the PARTICIPIA curriculum in three higher education institutions reveals its ability to respond to the needs of specific contexts and its connection with existing higher education programmes.
Practical implications
Considering energy issues from a transdisciplinary approach in higher education is absolutely critical because such a holistic view cannot be achieved through engineering curricula. Deliberate and greater efforts should be made to integrate methods from “multi-scale integrated assessment” and “science for governance” in higher education curricula to train a new breed of modern-day energy planners in charge of coming up with solutions that are shared by all relevant stakeholders.
Originality/value
This paper presents an innovative higher education curriculum in terms of the attention given to energy access and energy efficiency that affect the southern Africa region and the nature of the methodology adopted to face these issues.
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Beatrice Avolio and Jessica Marleny Chávez Cajo
This phenomenological study, conducted within the discourse on the underrepresentation of women in academia, examined the factors influencing the advancement of women academics in…
Abstract
Purpose
This phenomenological study, conducted within the discourse on the underrepresentation of women in academia, examined the factors influencing the advancement of women academics in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
Design/methodology/approach
The sample comprised twenty-one women academics from both public and private universities in Peru. Data were collected through in-depth interviews based on the women's experiences and subsequently processed using Moustakas’ (1994) stages for encoding, categorization, and analysis.
Findings
The study introduces a conceptual framework of nine factors – personal tastes and preferences, attitudes towards science as a vocation, care work, work–life balance, congruent gender roles, occupational segregation, lack of opportunities, low salaries, and lack of gender equality policies – that impact the career progression of women in STEM fields.
Originality/value
The results offer valuable insights for policymakers and academic authorities to address the barriers affecting women academics in STEM. The uniqueness of this paper lies in its investigation in Peru, a country with the highest female labor force participation in Latin America, where women constitute the majority of undergraduate program graduates.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine the relations and processes by which creativity is assembled, and how this mode of creativity responds to tensions and difficulties in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relations and processes by which creativity is assembled, and how this mode of creativity responds to tensions and difficulties in activities concerning “arts education” and “creativity” in a community arts organisation in Mexico City. It shows how ethnographic research can provide qualitative understanding about “creativity” on the ground, i.e. through people’s participation in ordinary activities and projects in arts organisations.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodological approach was ethnographic in data collection and analysis. Participant observation was conducted for 11 months (November 2011/October 2012), as well as archival research and photographs.
Findings
The findings of this research highlight how, in the face of personal difficulties and tensions people respond creatively through collaboration. The former refers to people’s difficulties to gain control over their lives, e.g., finding a stable job. The latter refers to people’s tensions to produce an artistic project, where they negotiate with institutional expectations about the project and their own experiences and reflections.
Originality/value
While there is an increasing interest of policy makers for fostering “arts education” and “creativity” in an instrumental way, this paper shows how creativity emerges through the intensity of their personal ideas, experiences and solidarity.
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The purposes of this paper are to explore the effects of brand credibility, brand familiarity and brand image on brand attachment and brand attitude; and to test how a grocery…
Abstract
Purpose
The purposes of this paper are to explore the effects of brand credibility, brand familiarity and brand image on brand attachment and brand attitude; and to test how a grocery product category and the perception of quality of own-label brands vs manufacturer brands moderate the inter-relationship of brand credibility, brand familiarity and brand image on brand attachment and brand attitude.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey is administered to a quota sample of Portuguese supermarket shoppers via a face-to-face personal interviewing method. The survey was conducted in Lisbon, Amadora and Sintra. The three municipalities were chosen for being the most densely populated and for having the largest number of grocery retailers in Portugal. From a total of 800 questionnaires collected using a face-to-face personal interviewing method in low-, medium- and high-peak shopping days, 756 were usable for data analysis. The respondents’ profile is according to the last Censos in Portugal conducted by the National Statistical Institute of Portugal, representing a quota sample.
Findings
Credibility and familiarity seem to be more important to enhance attachment in the case of the manufacturer brands and image for retailer own-brands. Brand image is more effective in attach customer in the case of manufacturer brands. Grocery store (supermarket) brand managers should be more effective in communicating the extension of the store image to the image of the products; they should develop a consistent and differentiating brand image.
Originality/value
This paper provides an important contribution to supermarket retail service by shedding light about how consumers’ overall evaluation and attachment to a brand are affected by the grocery product category and the perception of the quality of an own-label brand vs a manufacturer brand.
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Andrés Oviedo-Gómez, Sandra Milena Londoño-Hernández and Diego Fernando Manotas-Duque
This study aims to assess volatility spillovers and directional connectedness between electricity (EPs) and natural gas prices (GPs) in the Canadian electricity market, based on a…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to assess volatility spillovers and directional connectedness between electricity (EPs) and natural gas prices (GPs) in the Canadian electricity market, based on a hydrothermal power generation market strongly dependent on exogenous variables such as fossil fuel prices and climatology factors.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology is divided into two stages. First, a quantile vector autoregression model is used to evaluate the direction and magnitude of the influence between natural gas and electricity prices through different quantiles of their distributions. Second, a cross-quantilogram is estimated to measure the directional predictability between these prices. The data set consists of daily electricity and natural gas prices between January 2015 and December 2023.
Findings
The main finding shows that electricity prices are pure shock receivers of volatility from natural gas prices for the different quantiles. In this way, natural gas price fluctuations explain 0.20%, 0.98% and 22.72% of electricity price volatility for the 10th, 50th and 90th quantiles, respectively. On the other hand, a significant and positive correlation is observed in the high quantiles of the electricity prices for any natural gas price value.
Originality/value
The study described the risk to the electricity market caused by nonrenewable source price fluctuations and provided evidence for designing regulatory policies to reduce its exposure in Alberta, Canada. It also allows us to understand the importance of natural gas in the energy transition process and define it as the fundamental determinant of the electricity market dynamic.
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Barbara de Lima Voss, David Bernard Carter and Bruno Meirelles Salotti
We present a critical literature review debating Brazilian research on social and environmental accounting (SEA). The aim of this study is to understand the role of politics in…
Abstract
We present a critical literature review debating Brazilian research on social and environmental accounting (SEA). The aim of this study is to understand the role of politics in the construction of hegemonies in SEA research in Brazil. In particular, we examine the role of hegemony in relation to the co-option of SEA literature and sustainability in the Brazilian context by the logic of development for economic growth in emerging economies. The methodological approach adopts a post-structural perspective that reflects Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory. The study employs a hermeneutical, rhetorical approach to understand and classify 352 Brazilian research articles on SEA. We employ Brown and Fraser’s (2006) categorizations of SEA literature to help in our analysis: the business case, the stakeholder–accountability approach, and the critical case. We argue that the business case is prominent in Brazilian studies. Second-stage analysis suggests that the major themes under discussion include measurement, consulting, and descriptive approach. We argue that these themes illustrate the degree of influence of the hegemonic politics relevant to emerging economics, as these themes predominantly concern economic growth and a capitalist context. This paper discusses trends and practices in the Brazilian literature on SEA and argues that the focus means that SEA avoids critical debates of the role of capitalist logics in an emerging economy concerning sustainability. We urge the Brazilian academy to understand the implications of its reifying agenda and engage, counter-hegemonically, in a social and political agenda beyond the hegemonic support of a particular set of capitalist interests.
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Md Rabiul Islam, Sandra Maria Correio Loureiro, Inês Carvalho and Ana Ramires
This study proposes a conceptual model and aims (1) to understand how co-creation experience influences guest engagement, (2) to analyse the effect of satisfaction and affective…
Abstract
Purpose
This study proposes a conceptual model and aims (1) to understand how co-creation experience influences guest engagement, (2) to analyse the effect of satisfaction and affective image between co-creation experience and guest engagement, and (3) to analyse the effect of guest engagement on behavioural intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire-based online survey was conducted targeting U.S.-based hotel customers. Developed on Qualtrics and distributed via Mechanical Turk, the survey garnered 465 useable responses from individuals who had visited international chain hotels within the last year. Data analysis was performed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) in IBM SPSS Amos.
Findings
The findings revealed significant direct effects of co-creation experience on affective image and guest satisfaction, with guest satisfaction notably influencing guest engagement, and guest engagement directly influencing behavioural intention. However, both co-creation experience and affective image showed minimal direct impact on guest engagement. The study also highlighted the importance of indirect effects and total effects in understanding the dynamics between the constructs analysed.
Research limitations/implications
The findings revealed significant direct effects of co-creation experience on affective image, with affective image notably influencing guest engagement, and guest engagement directly influencing behavioural intention. Although satisfaction had direct effects on guest engagement, co-creation experience showed minimal direct impact on guest satisfaction and on guest engagement.
Practical implications
This study advises managers to use co-creation primarily to enrich guest experiences and establish emotional connections rather than as a tool for directly enhancing engagement. It recommends that managers invest in strategies to enhance guest engagement beyond co-creation given the direct link between guest engagement and behavioural intentions, and the minimal direct impact between co-creation, guest engagement and satisfaction.
Originality/value
This study demonstrates that affective image is a pivotal mediator between co-creation experience and guest engagement. The findings provide valuable implications for hospitality practitioners in designing and managing co-creation experiences, emphasizing the importance of fostering a positive affective image in the value co-creation process to attain positive behavioural outcomes.