Riccardo Natoli, Van K. Nguyen, Ancy Gamage, Joanne Pyke, Terry de Lacy, Thu-Huong Nguyen and Colin Drake
Drawing on crisis management theory and complexity theory, the purpose of this study is to examine the impact of a prolonged COVID-19 induced lockdown on tourism small and medium…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on crisis management theory and complexity theory, the purpose of this study is to examine the impact of a prolonged COVID-19 induced lockdown on tourism small and medium enterprise (SME) operators’ well-being.
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed methods approach was used, with survey data from 226 SME tourism operators located in Victoria (Australia) and 33 interviews with a cross-representative selection of tourism stakeholders.
Findings
The findings of this study show that planned resilience, adaptive resilience, government communication (i.e. Roadmap to Recovery announcement) and revenue status are positively linked to well-being.
Research limitations/implications
The cross-sectional nature of this study is not able to provide evidence of a temporal relationship between exposure and outcome, as both are examined at the same time. This study is restricted to one Australian State and may have limited generalisability.
Practical implications
The findings identify strategies to improve tourism SMEs resilience and their operator well-being. Programs designed to meet the needs of tourism SME owners and enhance access to well-being services, while training for SME tourism operators should focus on improving the diversification potential of the business.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is among the first studies applying crisis management and complexity theories as theoretical lenses to explore the joint effect of organisational resilience and government communication on SME tourism operators’ well-being. The inclusion of communication on SME well-being is an area hitherto unexplored in the tourism literature.
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Jean-Alain Heraud, Phu Nguyen-Van and Thi Kim Cuong Pham
This paper analyzes individual subjective well-being using a survey database from the Strasbourg metropolitan development council (France). The authors focus on the effects of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper analyzes individual subjective well-being using a survey database from the Strasbourg metropolitan development council (France). The authors focus on the effects of externalities generated by public services (transport, culture and sport), environmental quality and feeling of security in the Strasbourg metropolitan area (Eurométropole de Strasbourg, EMS). Results show that EMS specificities (public facilities, environmental quality, safety and security) and individual features like opportunities to laugh or live with children significantly influence individual well-being. These findings are robust when using three subjective measures: feeling of well-being, environmental satisfaction and social life satisfaction. The authors also show that income may affect the perceived well-being of individuals belonging to a low-income group, while individuals belonging to a high-income group tend to be unsatisfied with environmental quality but satisfied with their social life. Besides, social comparison in terms of income does not matter for individual well-being in the Strasbourg metropolitan area.
Design/methodology/approach
Theoretical and empirical paper —Utility theory in economics—Econometric modeling using an ordered probit model.
Findings
Specificities of the Strasbourg metropolitan area-France (public services related to transport, culture and sport, environmental quality perceived as convenient for individual health, sense of security) significantly impact individual subjective well-being. Income does not substantially impact the individual subjective perception of happiness: income may matter for the feeling of well-being only for individuals belonging to a low-income group. Wealthy individuals tend to be unsatisfied with environmental quality but satisfied with their social life. Social comparison in terms of income does not matter for individual well-being in the Strasbourg metropolitan area.
Research limitations/implications
Cross-sectional data, but it is the only available database from a survey conducted by EMS in 2017 to collect information on potential elements relative to individual well-being in the Strasbourg metropolitan area.
Practical implications
Results shed light on the role of territorial policies in improving individual well-being and might provide some guidelines for policy-makers concerned about the population’s welfare. Policy-makers should give strong attention to public facilities (an essential element of local public action) and improve environmental quality. If they care about the population’s happiness, they have to reorient current policies in this direction. Of course, through the inquiry in 2017 giving this database, the Strasbourg agglomeration development council aimed to provide such evidence to the local administration. Nevertheless, the results were a bit upsetting for many people in the administrative and political circles, who generally prioritize economic and demographic development, while the citizens’ responses to the inquiry have revealed a strong focus on the quality of everyday life in their neighborhood.
Originality/value
The present study contributes to the literature on subjective well-being, with a focus on the role of local characteristics and living environment. The authors’ starting point is related to the standard utility theory, indicating that environmental quality and public services are positive externalities. The authors investigate whether the local living environment and public facilities are crucial elements explaining individual well-being. To do this, we consider three subjective measures: feeling of well-being, environmental satisfaction and social life satisfaction, which are used as proxies of individual utility. The authors consider different explicative variables representing specificities of EMS in terms of public services (transport, culture and sport), environmental quality perceived as convenient for individual health, safety and security, etc. The authors also provide a test for relative standing by including the median monthly household income at the municipality level.
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Anitha Dhakshina Moorthy, D. Kavitha, R. Logeshwaran, N.V. Vishnu Kumar and Vishnu Karthick
Student open feedback is an essential element to improve the teaching service. Comprehending the feedback collected daily may not be possible especially in a large classroom…
Abstract
Purpose
Student open feedback is an essential element to improve the teaching service. Comprehending the feedback collected daily may not be possible especially in a large classroom. There is needed an automated system that processes feedback and helps to recommend focused, precise points to the teacher stating the positives and negatives of a class. Also, the feedback texts are neither going to be grammatically correct nor going to consist only of English. Hence, an automated feedback processing system is essential that processes the mixed-language language text that provides crisp clear insights to the teachers, thus making effective student–teacher interaction.
Design/methodology/approach
This research is designed to analyse daily feedback from the students in grammarless English-Tamil mixed feedback and creates a dashboard that displays concise keywords regarding positive and negative aspects of the class. An ML-based system architecture is proposed for processing English-Tamil mixed grammarless feedback texts and validates the same with an experimental prototype and compares the results with other state-of-the-art models. This prototype classifies the text into different categories and provides the concise view with topic modelling techniques. This system is useful in progressive improvement of teaching learning process, subsequently leading to better teaching learning environment.
Findings
The proposed web-based architecture is validated with a prototype by comparing the results with other state-of-the-art models. The accuracy of the results is higher (>90%) in the proposed architecture than other models (<60%). The created teacher dashboard is highly recommendable and provides day-to-day recommendation for finetuning teaching and learning process. The web-based dashboard created for teachers enables them to interpret the student feedback with much ease due to the Machine learning algorithms used in implementing the web-based solution.
Research limitations/implications
This system is designed to help the teachers to improve themselves in the teaching learning process with the feedback. The proposed system is a prototype that is initially tested with sample feedback texts obtained in sessions in postgraduate classrooms. The implementation of the prototype and analysis of teacher and student experience are presented as the immediate scope of this research work. This helps the teachers to get an overall view on the best teaching practices and what to improve. This work currently uses Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) uncased and in the increase of native language text the system may work with BERT multilingual.
Practical implications
This prototype will be implemented as a web-mobile based application. Students can submit their daily feedback through a mobile app, while teachers will access a dashboard that presents a concise overview generated by the proposed system architecture. The dashboard will also provide trend analysis, highlighting positive and negative aspects of the sessions. The system's effectiveness will be evaluated through a qualitative study, incorporating feedback from teachers and insights from students. This evaluation will help teachers gain a comprehensive understanding of the most effective teaching practices and areas needing improvement, thereby enhancing the teaching-learning process. The web-mobile application aims to Streamline the feedback process, making it easy for students to share their thoughts and for teachers to receive actionable insights. This study offers a clear and concise summary of student feedback and trend analysis from which the teachers can quickly identify patterns and make necessary adjustments to their teaching methods. Ultimately, this approach will foster a more responsive and effective educational environment, supporting continuous improvement and better student–teacher interactions. Further, the proposed system requires lesser technical knowledge and can be used by anyone.
Social implications
A literature review has identified a critical need for a feedback processing system that functions at short intervals. Such a system is essential for providing teachers with concise, periodic summaries of students' open-ended feedback, which is vital for fostering continuous improvement in the teaching-learning process. The immediate processing of feedback, particularly when it contains English-mixed texts, is crucial for making timely adjustments that enhance both student performance and experience. By swiftly addressing concerns and reinforcing positive feedback, the system will improve student–teacher interactions, provide meaningful insights that contribute to progressive educational growth. This will help implement a feedback system that operates in these short intervals and allows for real-time monitoring and response to students' needs and experiences. Additionally, by highlighting areas of success, teachers can build on effective strategies and practices.
Originality/value
This research paper proposes a system architecture PSFAS: Progressive Student Feedback Analysis System with Multi Level Classification and Clustering that enables effective interaction between the student and the teacher with the findings from feedback and presenting an experimental prototype that can be incorporated into the regular teaching learning process, whether online or offline. It has been found from the literature review, that feedback processing is mostly done in the English language. This work proposes a system architecture that gives higher accuracy than other state-of-the art models for feedback texts having English-mix grammarless sentences.
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Hospitality is one of the industries severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is vital to comprehend how to help the workforce in this service sector grow resilient through…
Abstract
Purpose
Hospitality is one of the industries severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is vital to comprehend how to help the workforce in this service sector grow resilient through such a crisis. This paper aims to unpack the role of employer event communication in promoting hotel workers’ resilience.
Design/methodology/approach
The data were garnered from 462 hotel workers who were on unpaid leave or layoff during the hotel shutdown.
Findings
The results unfolded the positive link between employer event communication and hotel workers’ resilience, for which core beliefs examination served as a mediation mechanism. Family support was found to moderate the effect of employer event communication on core beliefs examination.
Practical implications
The findings indicate to hospitality organizations that in face of a crisis such as the COVID-19, their employee resilience can be activated if they implement event communication activities. They should further realize that their support should go hand in hand with family support in fueling employee resilience from the crisis.
Originality/value
This study advances the understanding of how and when to promote resilience among hotel workers during a pandemic crisis.
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Daniel Gama e Colombo and Helio Nogueira da Cruz
This paper evaluates the effects of tax incentives on business innovation in Brazil that were established by Law 11,196/05 (the “Fiscal Incentives Law”) to test whether they have…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper evaluates the effects of tax incentives on business innovation in Brazil that were established by Law 11,196/05 (the “Fiscal Incentives Law”) to test whether they have had a positive impact on beneficiary firms' innovation input and output and on their performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The policy impacts are estimated using microdata on 13,706 firms available in the 2008 and 2011 editions of the Brazilian Innovation Survey (PINTEC) and by applying propensity score matching with difference-in-differences.
Findings
The results suggest a positive and statistically significant impact of the policy on research and development (R&D) expenditures (average of approximately US$ 264,000 in 2011), the number of research staff (average of five researchers) and total employment (approximately 5% of the beneficiary firms' mean size). However, no impact was found on the overall spending on innovative activities, the percentage of sales and exports from new products, net revenue or net revenue per employee.
Practical implications
The findings provide empirical support in favor of tax incentives as a policy tool to boost business innovation in the country. However, the absence of significant effects on innovative activities expenditures and on most indicators of innovation output and firms' performance reveals shortcomings of the policy that need to be addressed.
Originality/value
The study complements and advances the findings of previous studies by assessing policy impact on total innovative activities expenditures and on innovation output and firm performance.
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S. Thavasi and T. Revathi
With so many placement opportunities around the students in their final or prefinal year, they start to feel the strain of the season. The students feel the need to be aware of…
Abstract
Purpose
With so many placement opportunities around the students in their final or prefinal year, they start to feel the strain of the season. The students feel the need to be aware of their position and how to increase their chances of being hired. Hence, a system to guide their career is one of the needs of the day.
Design/methodology/approach
The job role prediction system utilizes machine learning techniques such as Naïve Bayes, K-Nearest Neighbor, Support Vector machines (SVM) and Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) to suggest a student’s job role based on their academic performance and course outcomes (CO), out of which ANN performs better. The system uses the Mepco Schlenk Engineering College curriculum, placement and students’ Assessment data sets, in which the CO and syllabus are used to determine the skills that the student has gained from their courses. The necessary skills for a job position are then extracted from the job advertisements. The system compares the student’s skills with the required skills for the job role based on the placement prediction result.
Findings
The system predicts placement possibilities with an accuracy of 93.33 and 98% precision. Also, the skill analysis for students gives the students information about their skill-set strengths and weaknesses.
Research limitations/implications
For skill-set analysis, only the direct assessment of the students is considered. Indirect assessment shall also be considered for future scope.
Practical implications
The model is adaptable and flexible (customizable) to any type of academic institute or universities.
Social implications
The research will be very much useful for the students community to bridge the gap between the academic and industrial needs.
Originality/value
Several works are done for career guidance for the students. However, these career guidance methodologies are designed only using the curriculum and students’ basic personal information. The proposed system will consider the students’ academic performance through direct assessment, along with their curriculum and basic personal information.
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Seungjong Sun, Jang Hyun Kim, Kwan Min Lee and Dongyan Nan
Massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) are representative metaverse games that are thriving in academia and the industry. This study aims to develop an integrated…
Abstract
Purpose
Massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) are representative metaverse games that are thriving in academia and the industry. This study aims to develop an integrated model based on Yee's motivations and the Proteus effect to explore individuals' intentions of playing MMORPGs.
Design/methodology/approach
The data were gathered by conducting an online survey (n = 441) for the players of World of Warcraft, an MMORPG. The collected data were analyzed with a structural equation model.
Findings
The outcomes of this research reveal that the Proteus effect positively influenced the intentions of the players to play the game via mediations of social, immersion, achievement motivations and enjoyment. Furthermore, the players influenced by the Proteus effect, which enables avatar embodiment and identification, exhibited a stronger intention to play MMORPGs.
Originality/value
This research is one of the first attempts to establish a theoretical framework involving the Proteus effect and Yee's motivations. In addition, the findings of this study imply that the Proteus effect should be considered when investigating the individual experience of metaverse games.
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The purpose of this paper is to explore flood-prone area residents' preferences of flood-resilient housing technologies (HTs), to understand the factors influencing their choices…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore flood-prone area residents' preferences of flood-resilient housing technologies (HTs), to understand the factors influencing their choices. Flood-resilient HTs can reduce damage and disruption at a household level, particularly in areas where large-scale community schemes are not available or feasible. People’s perception of floods and their preferences of flood-resilient HTs are among many very important factors influencing the adoption of these technologies. Therefore, these perceptions and preferences must be well understood before implementation of these technologies can occur. However, studies on these two important factors are lacking in literature, particularly in the sub-Saharan African context.
Design/methodology/approach
Nigerian residents’ preferences of flood-resilient HTs were explored by focusing on five frequently flooded areas around the Niger and Benue river basins in Kogi State, Nigeria. Thirty-eight chat, video and voice call interviews were conducted with participants across five case study areas: Lokoja, Idah, Bassa, Ajaokuta and Koton Karifi. The interviews, informed through an illustrated brochure, covered residents’ experiences and perceptions of floods. This was done to gain an understanding of the factors influencing the choice of flood-resilient HTs adopted and those preferred.
Findings
This study confirms that residents in these five focus areas show similar characteristics to other floodplain residents as encapsulated in protection motivation theory. The flood-resilient HTs discussed in this study include flood-avoidance, flood-recoverability and flood-resistance strategies, as well as neighbourhood-scale approaches. Flood-resistance and flood-recoverability strategies rated highly in terms of suitability and envisaged efficiency in mitigating flooding in Kogi State. Although the measures were mostly agreed to be potentially effective and successful on a household scale, there were concerns as to flood mitigation on a neighbourhood scale.
Research limitations/implications
Pre-existing flood-resilient HTs were not extensively discussed in the literature review but were included to have a sense of the participants’ mitigation behaviour, as well as their potential to adopt (or not) new measures after adopting previous ones.
Originality/value
The results provide supporting evidence of the factors influencing the choice of and/or intention to adopt flood-resilient HTs, highlighted in literature. Results also contribute to literature by providing further insight into flood-resilient measures already adopted by residents, as well as their preferred HTs from the options presented. The implications of these findings and methodological considerations in this research are fully discussed in this paper.
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Louis Maximilian Ronalter, Camila Fabrício Poltronieri and Mateus Cecilio Gerolamo
This work aims to present existing management system standards (MSSs) published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) through a bibliometric analysis…
Abstract
Purpose
This work aims to present existing management system standards (MSSs) published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) through a bibliometric analysis, thereby outlining their academic research status and highlighting their relation to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as to environmental, social and governance (ESG) themes.
Design/methodology/approach
The study firstly retrieves a preliminary set of MSSs standards from ISO and filters it in accordance with certain exclusion/inclusion criteria. Secondly, a bibliometric search is performed in the database Scopus. Thirdly, performance analysis is conducted to quantitatively measure the scientific output in academia, and science mapping of co-occurrences of keywords is applied to identify related topics. Thereby, the standards’ relationships to sustainability are outlined. Eventually, the work discusses future research opportunities.
Findings
The findings reveal that whereas research on MSSs focuses predominantly on only a few standards by now, there are actually numerous further standards that address sustainability-relevant topics, which are getting increasing attention among scholars as measured by the number of publications. Therefore, an action plan for future research is derived. Moreover, the findings support the argument of integrating MSSs to cover a broad range of corporate sustainability issues.
Originality/value
The paper connects the concepts of MSSs and sustainability, an upcoming research branch yet characterized by shortage of academic studies (given that research continues to focus on a few standards such as ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001). The work therefore opens up the line for more in-detail research on less known but nevertheless sustainability-relevant ISO MSSs.
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Rumana Asad, Iftekhar Ahmed, Josephine Vaughan and Jason von Meding
Urban flooding in developing countries of the Global South is growing due to extreme rainfall and sea-level rise induced by climate change, as well as the proliferation of…
Abstract
Purpose
Urban flooding in developing countries of the Global South is growing due to extreme rainfall and sea-level rise induced by climate change, as well as the proliferation of impervious, built-up areas resulting from unplanned urbanisation and development. Continuous loss of traditional knowledge related to local water management practices, and the de-valuing of such knowledge that goes hand-in-hand with globalised aspirations, is inhibiting flood resilience efforts. This paper aims to address the need to include traditional water knowledge (TWK) in urban living and development processes in the Global South.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper commences with a review of existing frameworks that focus on natural resource management, critically assessing two existing frameworks of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). The assessment of the existing approaches contributes to this paper’s development of a novel framework to promote TWK with regard to resilience and risk reduction, specifically for developing flood adaptive strategies, which is the second stage of this paper. Finally, the paper explains how the framework can contribute to the field of urban design and planning using examples from the literature to demonstrate challenges and opportunities related to the adaptation of such a framework.
Findings
The framework developed in this paper reveals three proposed vertices of TWK, named as place-based landscape knowledge, water use and management and water values. This framework has the potential to produce context-specific knowledge that can contribute to flood-resilient built-environment through urban design and practices.
Research limitations/implications
The framework developed in this paper reveals three proposed vertices of TWK, named place-based landscape knowledge, water use and management and water values. This framework has the potential to produce context-specific knowledge that can contribute to flood-resilient built-environment through urban design and practices.
Originality/value
Within the field of TEK research, very few researchers have explored the field of developing flood resilience in an urban context. The proposed TWK framework presented in this paper will help to fill that gap.