Yan Yin Lee, Mohammad Falahat and Bik Kai Sia
This paper identifies the forces that drive digital adoption among SMEs from low and high-tech industries in Malaysia.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper identifies the forces that drive digital adoption among SMEs from low and high-tech industries in Malaysia.
Design/methodology/approach
This research uses multiple case analyses based on data gathered by in-depth interviews with key representatives of 20 firms from low and high-tech industries in Malaysia.
Findings
The findings suggest that digital adoption among SMEs derives by four fundamental forces, which are sales, marketing, process improvement and product development.
Research limitations/implications
This study employed qualitative research, but lack of geographic diversity limits the generalisability of the case findings. This study provides several suggestions to policymakers and technology suppliers on how to encourage adoption of digitalisation among SMEs.
Originality/value
This study proposes a model that presents the critical forces that drive digital adoption for export-oriented firms, thus enriching the knowledge in SME digitalisation literature.
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Yin Lee and Amit Kramer
Many employees do not use work-family practices to their full extent, even when they are in need of them. Drawing on the concept of psychological safety the authors propose a new…
Abstract
Purpose
Many employees do not use work-family practices to their full extent, even when they are in need of them. Drawing on the concept of psychological safety the authors propose a new construct: psychological accessibility– employees' sense of embracing the benefits of work-family practices without experiencing a fear of using them. The authors argue that the psychological accessibility of work-family practices could explain the variations in the utilization of work-family practices among employees with similar levels of family needs. Furthermore, the authors propose multilevel contextual factors that could affect the psychological accessibility of work-family practices.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors develop a theoretical multilevel framework for work-family practices that places psychological accessibility at its core and addresses accessibility of work-family practices from a macro level that includes institutions and the different attributes of the national culture, a meso level that includes work time norms in organizations, and a micro level, that includes the social context at the team level in organizations.
Findings
As part of the conceptual development the authors offer 10 propositions.
Originality/value
The authors' multilevel model of psychological accessibility could explain the variations in the utilization of work-family practices across different national, organizational and group contexts. This paper refocuses scholarly attention to the psychological antecedents of the utilization of work-family practices. The authors offer some practical recommendations to make the utilization of work-family practices a psychologically safe activity.
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Lichao Ma, Hao Yao and Manyuan Sun
The study seeks to unpack the effect of distributed leadership on teacher professionalism, and the mediating roles of collaborative learning and relational trust in the Chinese…
Abstract
Purpose
The study seeks to unpack the effect of distributed leadership on teacher professionalism, and the mediating roles of collaborative learning and relational trust in the Chinese cultural context.
Design/methodology/approach
The proposed framework was examined based on the questionnaire data from 522 primary and secondary school teachers in China using structural equation modeling.
Findings
It was found that distributed leadership had a direct positive impact on collaborative learning and relational trust, which also exerted the direct positive impact on teacher professionalism. However, distributed leadership cannot directly affect teacher professionalism in China. Only through the full mediation of collaborative learning and relational trust, could distributed leadership facilitate teacher professionalism in an indirect way. The proportion of sequence mediating effect was the highest, followed by the single mediating role played by relational trust.
Originality/value
We have demonstrated to international scholars the indirect value of distributed leadership in enhancing teacher professionalism in China. The results not only enrich the existing influencing mechanism framework of professionalism, but also provide valuable implications that school leadership does not have a completely positive effect on teacher professionalism. Only when the empowering leadership style is truly perceived by teachers and strengthens their collaborative learning and mutual trust, can a team of capable educators be formed to promote teacher professionalism. It also indicates that teacher professionalism becomes a systematic and structural process requiring support from multiple parties, such as schools, leaders, colleagues and self.
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Helen Yin-Kwan Lee, Lawrence Ka-ki Ho and Fredie Pak-Cheung Hung
This study aims to explore the community strengths/ weaknesses and the opportunities/ threats of the Nepalese communities in Hong Kong that have faced during the COVID-19…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the community strengths/ weaknesses and the opportunities/ threats of the Nepalese communities in Hong Kong that have faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. The infection of COVID-19 among the ethnic minorities (EM) population in western democracies was reported higher, and it was wondered whether it was due to structural discrimination of the underprivileged.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is situated in Hong Kong during the peak of pandemic in 2020–2021. The authors followed the work of an EM service agency and interacted with their Nepalese clients to explore their reactions in coping with the sudden physical and economic adversities and examined their capacity amid the pandemic.
Findings
The authors noticed their effective self-mobilization that was strategically facilitated by veteran social workers and thus have strong resilience compared to other EM clusters in the territories.
Originality/value
The ways of their interactions offer useful insights for the authors to examine the prevailing strategy for achieving the mission of social inclusion in Hong Kong with 8% of the EM population.
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Weisheng Li and Meng Tian
This study scrutinised Shanghai junior high school teachers’ emotions and emotion management strategies in relation to teachers’ work settings and content. A mixed-methods…
Abstract
This study scrutinised Shanghai junior high school teachers’ emotions and emotion management strategies in relation to teachers’ work settings and content. A mixed-methods approach was applied to collect data via field observations, interviews, and a quantitative survey. The aim of this study was two-fold. Firstly, it aimed to identify the typical work settings in which teachers experienced work-related emotions. Secondly, it aimed to reveal teachers’ priority work in school and how it affected teachers’ choices of emotion management strategies.
The data were analysed through the lens of emotional labour theories and professional agency theories. Findings showed that classroom teaching and the professional learning community activities were two typical settings in which the teachers experienced the most intensive emotions. Most Shanghai teachers managed their momentary emotions by either genuinely expressing their emotions that matched their roles and the scenario, or by purposely suppressing emotions to meet social and organisational expectations. Furthermore, most teachers adopted the long-term mood regulation strategy by aligning their emotions with long-term goal achievement in the future. As professional agents, the Shanghai teachers did not only manage their own emotions at work using these two strategies, but also managed students’ emotions as part of the moral education.
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Gabriel Cepeda and David Martin
This paper aims to specify a set of methodological stages to conduct case studies. It presents a graphical representation of these stages, describes how it assists management…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to specify a set of methodological stages to conduct case studies. It presents a graphical representation of these stages, describes how it assists management researchers to build theory from data gathered in the field, and outlines its value for achieving sound management research.
Design/methodology/approach
A sample of nine cases published in Management Decision within the last two years (2003‐2004) is selected in order to illustrate these processes.
Findings
The paper's major contribution to research methodology is to specify a set of guidelines for conducting case studies and being explicit in how to apply a series of quality criteria for evaluating case studies in practice. The proposal not only helps to conduct research, but also documents the links between the research topics (in the conceptual framework), data (observations and interpretations in the field), data analysis (coding using the concepts in the conceptual framework and emergent themes) and the theory and knowledge accumulated through the research process.
Practical implications
The increasing use of case studies in management, and the desire to build theory from qualitative data, has highlighted a gap between existing proposals and the criteria for rigorous case studies. This contribution helps to close this gap by providing guidelines and the practical application of the quality principles. It assists management researchers working in these paradigms to build theory from qualitative data.
Originality/value
The proposal adds to the tools that management researchers can follow to produce sound research. This paper illustrates several case studies in order to show their epistemological approach, and to evaluate their quality level by applying our principles.
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Hamed Gholami, Jocelyn Ke Yin Lee, Jose Arturo Garza-Reyes and Anas A. Salameh
Since the advent of Industry 4.0, there has been a growing research interest in developing the Green Lean Six Sigma concept in the direction of achieving sustainable development…
Abstract
Purpose
Since the advent of Industry 4.0, there has been a growing research interest in developing the Green Lean Six Sigma concept in the direction of achieving sustainable development, primarily aligned with Goal 12 of the agenda. Given that the concept is still in its early stages of exploration and requires further development through empirical validation, opportunities exist for innovative research. Yet, difficulties arise in adopting this green initiative due to an inadequate understanding of its strategic practices. Thus, this study aims to establish strategic practices facilitating its adoption in the Industry 4.0 era and develop a validated multi-item scale to measure the practices.
Design/methodology/approach
A three-phase methodological approach is designed to perform the techniques of exploratory and confirmatory analyses in the manufacturing context. To be a sound study, engineers have been involved since they play a pivotal role in the realm of manufacturing; however, the existing research on engineers' viewpoints on this subject is limited, emphasizing the need for further investigation.
Findings
Upon validation of the ultimate fallouts, the analyses demonstrated a confirmatory model with eighteen scales determining five practices: strategic integrity, human resource management, technologies and tools, eco-production, and eco-networks. The findings further revealed robust correlations among these core practices within the model.
Originality/value
The contribution of this study entails depicting and discussing a measurement model for future research since there is currently no empirically validated model available to measure this multidimensional green initiative.
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Kam Cheong Li, Linda Yin-King Lee, Suet-Lai Wong, Ivy Sui-Yu Yau and Billy Tak Ming Wong
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the implementation of mobile learning in a nursing course at The Open University of Hong Kong, and identify the potentials of, and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the implementation of mobile learning in a nursing course at The Open University of Hong Kong, and identify the potentials of, and constraints on, introducing mobile technologies in the instructional design of nursing education. The paper also considers the pedagogical implications of the expansion of mobile learning in the field of nursing.
Design/methodology/approach
The research adopts a qualitative approach to obtain the students’ and teacher’s experiences, opinions, and expectations on mobile learning. Two focus groups with 20 student participants were conducted and an in-depth interview with the course teacher was arranged. The Framework for the Rational Analysis of Mobile Education (FRAME) model was used as the research framework to support data collection and analysis.
Findings
The aspects of device usability, interaction learning, and social technology as suggested in the FRAME model were partly fulfilled in the study. Mobile technology enhanced the portability and accessibility of learning information, and networking tools facilitated interaction among students and between students and the teacher. However, the readability of text was limited due to constraints on the user interface and screen size, and concerns over the reliability of learning content were also raised, given the abundance of unfiltered online information. The difficulty in updating the content of multimedia materials and sourcing videos of an appropriate level, together with the problem of device networking, also limited the usefulness of mobile learning. Attention should also be paid to the perceptual differences between students and the teacher on the nature and functions of mobile learning.
Originality/value
This empirical study provides a detailed evaluation of the delivery of mobile learning in a nursing course. The findings reveal the strengths and limitations of using mobile technologies to support the nursing education.
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Fatemeh Yaftiyan, Marziyeh Rassaf, Mohammadjafar Nikimaleki Borchalouei and Hamide Ghahremani
This chapter assists in Iran’s start-ups swift internationalisation from the onset. Indeed, it sheds in-depth qualitative and quantitative insights into analysing the propelling…
Abstract
This chapter assists in Iran’s start-ups swift internationalisation from the onset. Indeed, it sheds in-depth qualitative and quantitative insights into analysing the propelling factors towards entrepreneurial internationalisation. To accomplish this feat, a mixed method of Systematic Literature Review (SLR), Fuzzy-Delphi (FD) and Fuzzy-DEMATEL (Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory) – ISM (Interpretive Structural Modelling) – MICMAC (Matrix-based Multiplication Applied to a Classification) (FDIM), along with a multi-scenario analysis have innovatively been applied. As a result, entrepreneur characteristics and an accessible qualified workforce, even in foreign countries, are the most prominent drivers. Most probably, the institutional voids, interconnected benchmarking and the advent of new disruptive technologies form the independent factors which can sharply influence the whole system, particularly the entrepreneur characteristics as a dependent one. Moreover, social media, customer orientation and the domestic market cover autonomous drivers, which can moderately be affected or influence the abovementioned factors.
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In this opening chapter the authors analyse current scholarship on teacher emotion and leader emotion produced almost entirely in western countries, and call for contextualising…
Abstract
In this opening chapter the authors analyse current scholarship on teacher emotion and leader emotion produced almost entirely in western countries, and call for contextualising this research by juxtaposing emotion with basic characteristics of traditional and transitional societies. Some attention is given to the meaning of emotion across national culture, including those of developing countries.