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The growing importance of entrepreneurship is the result of a global awareness of increasing competitiveness in the business environment. In Singapore, the SME Master Plan (1989) emphasises entrepreneurship as “a key component of the strategy to develop Singapore into a major node in global business and a total business centre.” Much has been reported in the press about entrepreneurship. The article “So You Think We've Arrived?” (Straits Times, 3 Jan 1993) says it all. In the past, Singapore had the temporary sensation of plenty and peace. Singapore industrialised and attracted multinational corporations (MNCs) to leap‐frog the region. This has enabled Singapore to grow at a phenomenal rate. Now, the region has awakened. Our neighbours have learned and are now more competitive to demand a share of the market. The challenge for tomorrow is a more competitive business environment. Our Senior Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, has emphasised that about 15 to 20 percent of Singapore's better graduates must venture abroad if Singapore is to become a developed country (Straits Times, 23 Apr. 1993). Thus, the emerging need for an entrepreneurial spirit has begun and is more real now than ever.

Small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) are generally perceived as more nimble because of their small size compared with multinational corporations (MNCs). They are corporations therefore seen as more entrepreneurial. Thus for a country to succeed, SMEs should be encouraged. In order for SMEs to thrive, among other things, they should be perceived by prospective job seekers as presenting attractive career opportunities. Presents the views of a particularly important group of job seekers, namely university undergraduates, relating to their career intentions, including working for SMEs as against MNCs. The survey of 270 first‐year accountancy and business undergraduates found that SMEs are less favourably perceived than MNCs when it comes to employment. In this light, SMEs need to reassess their recruitment and human resource strategies, as well as to project a new image to match the changing demands of the business world. Also suggests implications for policy makers.

There is significant amount of literature tackling different issues related to the port industry. The present chapter focuses on a single business unit of seaports aiming at the documentation of works related to container terminals.

An effort to review, collect and present the majority of the works present in the last 30 years, between 1980 and 2010, has been made in order to picture the problems dealt and methods used by the authors in the specific research field. To facilitate the reader, studies have been grouped under five categories of addressed problems (productivity and competitiveness, yard and equipment utilization, equipment scheduling, berth planning, loading/unloading) and four modelling methodologies (mathematics and operations research, management and economics, simulation, stochastic modelling).

The analysis shows that most works focus on productivity and competitiveness issues followed by yard and equipment utilisation and equipment scheduling. In reference to the methodologies used managerial and economic approaches lead, followed by mathematics and operations research.

In reference to future research, two fields have been identified where there is scope of significant contribution by the academic community: container terminal security and container terminal supply chain integration.

The present chapter provides the framework for researchers in the field of port container terminals to picture the so far works in this research area and enables the identification of gaps at both research question and methodology level for further research.

The purpose of this paper is to help understand consumer acceptance of online health information services by integrating the health belief model and extended valence framework.

A laboratory-based, experimental-scenarios research design is used to collect data, and the structural equation modeling technique is used to test the research model.

The model explains 47.6 percent of the variance in intentions to use online health information services. Trust appeared to have the strongest effect on acceptance. Perceived risk also had a significant impact on acceptance. Furthermore, health belief variables are confirmed as important factors for consumer acceptance. Self-efficacy was found to moderate the effect of perceived severity on acceptance.

This study helped identify the relative salience of the health belief model and extended valence framework in consumer acceptance of online health information services.

This study can help practitioners better understand the development of trust and the profiles of consumers who may browse their sites. When online health service providers promote their information to encourage potential online health information seekers, they should use countermeasures against risk perceptions.

This study attempted to extend the valence framework to the non-commercial service context. Moreover, health beliefs and the valence framework are two fundamental aspects that health information seekers consider when making decisions about online health services.

The purpose of this paper is to explain why Singapore has succeeded in curbing corruption and to recommend three measures for enhancing South Korea’s anti-corruption strategy.

The paper compares the contextual differences between Singapore and South Korea before analysing Singapore’s effective anti-corruption strategy and identifying the weaknesses of South Korea’s anti-corruption strategy.

Singapore’s success in minimising corruption is the result of its government’s strong political will and the adequate budget, personnel and operational autonomy given to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau to enable it to enforce the anti-corruption laws impartially. To improve South Korea’s anti-corruption strategy, the Korea Anti-Corruption Agency should be established and adequately staffed and funded to investigate corruption cases. Those found guilty of corruption offences should be punished according to the law, without suspending their jail sentences or being pardoned by the president. Finally, the existing public outreach anti-corruption programmes should be evaluated to identify their weaknesses and improve their effectiveness.

This paper recommends three measures for South Korean policy-makers to improve their anti-corruption strategy by learning from Singapore’s success.

In this research, we investigate the effect of high-performance work practices (HPWPs) on medical professionals' work outcomes through the mediating effect of perceived organizational support (POS).

The study analyzes the opinions of 218 medical doctors from private hospitals in Bangladesh, employing Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM).

We find that HPWPs enhance employee performance and POS and minimize turnover intention. POS also has a substantial influence on both employee performance and turnover intention. Moreover, POS finds a significant mediating effect on HPWPs and performance as well as HPWPs and turnover intention relations.

The current research focuses on medical doctors who are presently working in private hospitals in Bangladesh.

First, the hospital would recognize the role of employee perceived HPWPs. Second, they might understand how HPWPs would utilize and maintain employees effectively via POS that might further improve the healthcare industry. Suggestions for future research indicate the models potential to provide optimal workplace environments that can benefit organizations as well as improve employee performance.

The study would provide a unique insight into the higher-order HPWPs system and its effects on the health care organizations in developing country contexts like Bangladesh. This study also extends the research on POS as a mediator between higher-order HPWPs and employee outcomes in the organization.

Grounded in uses and gratifications (U&G) theory and relying on the congruence/incongruence approaches, the current research aims to contribute to the study of interactive marketing by measuring the effectiveness of social and personal sponsored post message appeals on consumer psychological and behavioral engagement. A conceptual framework is suggested.

Data were collected during a field experiment conducted on Facebook, consisting of two sponsored Facebook post campaigns, followed by a survey distributed to consumers who were exposed to the experiment.

A structural path model suggests that the congruence of the social message appeal of sponsored Facebook posts leads directly to psychological engagement that follows affective response. This path elevates an indirect effect toward behavioral engagement. Additionally, it was found that the incongruence of the personal message appeal of sponsored Facebook posts leads directly to behavioral engagement.

The novelty of the current research focuses on the unexplored subject of sponsored Facebook post message appeal effectiveness. Based on U&G theory applied to social media and the (in)congruence approaches, the study suggests a new dichotomy of message appeal for digital advertising, i.e. social vs. personal message strategies. Consumer engagement with the two appeals adds value to theory and practice by conceptualizing the effect of sponsored post content strategies on consumer engagement in Facebook while incorporating ad content with a hierarchical process.

In the context of nursing in higher education, digital competencies are increasingly recognised as a necessary skillset, within a continuously evolving healthcare professional landscape. This study sought to explore nursing students’ digital competencies and to further understand the digital literacy gaps and barriers they encounter for both learning and future work.

The research involved a cross-sectional, discipline-based empirical study of nursing students’ self-assessed digital competencies via a questionnaire survey, which collected quantitative and qualitative data from a total of five hundred and fifty-three students. The study explored the role of demographics (age, urban/rural geographical location of growing up, study year, learning disabilities (neurodiversity)) and experiences of digital divides (e.g., access, contextual and behavioural barriers) play on students’ digital competencies and outcomes.

Students’ digital competencies were found at an intermediate level, with younger and first-year students self-assessing higher. Significant differences were identified between students who had encountered digital barriers/divides and those who had not, with the former, self-reporting lower digital competencies. Students with learning disabilities reported complex support needs for processing and organizing digital information and for productivity. Almost all the individual digital competencies items assessed had strong statistical correlations between them.

The research offers key recommendations for academic libraries for the ongoing, evolving exploration of students’ digital competencies and for the need to follow tailored, discipline-related, holistic, practice-based and curriculum-embedded approaches to students’ digital skills development and support. It provides novel insights into digital competencies development for nursing students, particularly those who experience digital divides.