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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 28 February 2023

Andrei O. J. Kwok

This conceptual study examines the implications of the Internet of Behaviors (IoB) for tourism stakeholders in a hyper-connected and data-driven world.

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Abstract

Purpose

This conceptual study examines the implications of the Internet of Behaviors (IoB) for tourism stakeholders in a hyper-connected and data-driven world.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on nudge theory, a literature review and empirical evidence from multidisciplinary research, this study explores the implications of the IoB for smart tourism.

Findings

This study reviews the literature, presents a conceptual framework and proposes a research agenda with areas for future research.

Originality/value

The research on the IoB is nascent. Therefore, it is critical to understand how data-driven nudging influences tourist behavior.

Details

Journal of Tourism Futures, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2055-5911

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 October 2022

Ali Awdeh and Zouhour Jomaa

The majority of MENA countries suffer low levels of human development, coupled with scarcity of funding resources, low level of governance, and poor institutional environment…

Abstract

Purpose

The majority of MENA countries suffer low levels of human development, coupled with scarcity of funding resources, low level of governance, and poor institutional environment. Consequently, this research aims at detecting the impact of development finance resources and institutional quality on the human development in the MENA region, in order to examine if/why the MENA countries fail to efficiently exploit all the available financial inflows to promote human development and boost living standards.

Design/methodology/approach

This study tests the short- and long-run impact of six financing resources representing injections in the economy and four institutional quality variables on the human development index in the MENA region. It adopts co-integration analysis, vector error correction model, and Granger causality test on a sample of 13 MENA countries over the period 1996–2019.

Findings

This research finds that domestic credit to private sector and exports of goods and services do not have any significant added value for human development in the MENA region. In contrast, government expenditures and migrant remittances are found to be crucial in promoting human development in both the short- and long-run. FDI and ODA do enhance human development, but only in the short-run. In parallel, control of corruption, government effectiveness and regulation quality are essential boosters of human development in the MENA region, but with different importance, while political stability was found to be irrelevant.

Originality/value

To the authors’ best knowledge, this is the first study that examines the impact of financial inflows and institutional quality on the overall human development index in the MENA region. The contribution of this paper lies in unlocking for policymakers the potential impactful financing resources to serve national developmental plans, in an endeavour to catch up to the SDGs amid the additional challenges imposed by governance and institutional environment.

Details

International Journal of Emerging Markets, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-8809

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 March 2024

Umaira Tabassum, Xing Qiang, Jaffar Abbas, Amjad Islam Amjad and Khalid Ibrahim Al-Sulaiti

Positive psychology helps us understand the knowledge required to contribute to adolescents' societal development and adjustability. Adolescence is the crucial stage to work on…

Abstract

Purpose

Positive psychology helps us understand the knowledge required to contribute to adolescents' societal development and adjustability. Adolescence is the crucial stage to work on for a balanced personality. The present study concerned adolescents' self-strength, happiness, and help-seeking behaviour. The authors aimed to explore the relationship between adolescents' self-strength and happiness and investigate the mediational effect of adolescents' help-seeking behaviour on their self-strength and happiness.

Design/methodology/approach

The research design of the current quantitative study was correlational, and 809 adolescents from China and Pakistan participated in the present study. Data were personally collected from participants through self-developed scales.

Findings

We deployed Pearson correlation and simple mediation using SPSS software and found a linear, positive, strong (r = 0.654, n = 809, p = 0.000 < 0.01) and statistically significant correlation between adolescents' self-strength and happiness. The authors also found a significant indirect effect of help-seeking on adolescents' self-strength and happiness at (β = 0.373, t(907) = 7.01).

Research limitations/implications

Using self-reported scales to gather information was one of the study's limitations. Adolescents may have misunderstood the notion or construct narrated in words or responded biasedly despite the bilingual scales.

Practical implications

This study offers social and practical implications for educators, parents, and school administrators to address the development of adolescents' personalities using a positive psychology lens.

Originality/value

The findings are of significant importance for teachers working in the elementary schools. They may work on adolescents' self-strength, happiness, and help-seeking to develop balanced personalities.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 6 June 2022

Andrea Caputo, Mariya Kargina and Massimiliano Matteo Pellegrini

The purpose of this study is to map the intellectual structure of the research concerning conflict and conflict management in virtual teams (VT), to contribute to the further…

6323

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to map the intellectual structure of the research concerning conflict and conflict management in virtual teams (VT), to contribute to the further integration of knowledge among different streams of research and to develop an interpretative framework to stimulate future research.

Design/methodology/approach

A data set of 107 relevant papers on the topic was retrieved using the Web of Science Core Collection database covering a period ranging from 2001 to 2019. A comparative bibliometric analysis consisting of the integration of results from the citation, co-citation and bibliographic coupling was performed to identify the most influential papers. The systematic literature review complemented the bibliometric results by clustering the most influential papers.

Findings

The results revealed different intellectual structures across several types of analyses. Despite such differences, 41 papers resulted as the most impactful and provided evidence of the emergence of five thematic clusters: trust, performance, cultural diversity, knowledge management and team management.

Research limitations/implications

Based on the bibliometric analyses an interpretative research agenda has been developed that unveils the main future research avenues. The paper also offers important theoretical contributions by systematizing knowledge on conflict in identifying VTs. Managerial contributions in the form of the identification of best practices are also developed to guide conflict management in VTs.

Originality/value

The uniqueness of this paper is related to its effort in studying, mapping and systematizing the knowledge concerning the topic of handling conflicts in VTs. Considering the current contingencies, this research is particularly timely.

Details

International Journal of Conflict Management, vol. 34 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1044-4068

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 28 October 2013

Tesfaye Taddese Lemma and Minga Negash

The study aims to investigate the role of institutions, macroeconomic conditions, industry and firm characteristics on firm's capital structure decision within the context of nine…

3247

Abstract

Purpose

The study aims to investigate the role of institutions, macroeconomic conditions, industry and firm characteristics on firm's capital structure decision within the context of nine African countries.

Design/methodology/approach

A sample of 986 firms over the period 1999-2008 were analysed using a series of models that link institutional, macroeconomic, industry and firm-specific characteristics, on the one hand, and measures of capital structure, on the other. The paper used system generalized method of moments and seemingly unrelated regression which are robust to data heterogeneity and endogeneity problems to estimate the relationships between variables. Furthermore, the paper checked the robustness of findings using various estimation procedures.

Findings

The paper found evidence that the legal and financial institutions, income level of the country in which a firm operates, growth rate of the economy and inflation matter in capital structure choices of firms in the sample countries. Furthermore, capital structure choice of firms in the sample countries was affected by industry and firm-specific characteristics. These findings signify the role that probability of bankruptcy, agency costs, transaction costs, tax issues, information asymmetry problems, access to finance and market timing play in capital structure decisions of firms in Africa.

Research limitations/implications

As in most empirical studies, this study focused on listed firms. Nonetheless, future studies that focus on non-listed firms could add additional insights to the extant literature.

Practical implications

The findings have practical implications for corporate managers, governments, legislators and policymakers in the African continent.

Originality/value

The study focuses on firms in African countries for which cross-country studies such as this are rare. It also explicitly models industry variable as one of the determinants of capital structure, a marked departure from previous studies on capital structure decision of firms.

Details

Management Research Review, vol. 36 no. 11
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-8269

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 August 2021

Bojan Obrenovic, Jianguo Du, Danijela Godinić and Diana Tsoy

This study aims to examine psychological mechanisms underlying tacit knowledge-sharing behaviours. The personality trait of conscientiousness is tested in relation to knowledge…

2185

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to examine psychological mechanisms underlying tacit knowledge-sharing behaviours. The personality trait of conscientiousness is tested in relation to knowledge sharing, and the effect of eagerness and subjective norm on the intention to share is measured in the context of local and multinational knowledge-intensive enterprises in Croatia.

Design/methodology/approach

The quantitative study was conducted on a sample of 288 employees of small and medium-sized companies working on knowledge-intensive tasks. The purposive sampling technique and a survey strategy were used in the study. Organizational affiliation, as it was presumed that these individuals possess a higher degree of tacit knowledge. The data collection was conducted in October 2019. Respondents worked in science and technology companies in Croatia on assignments involving information technology, electronics, petrochemicals, medicine and biochemistry. Statistical product and service solutions analysis of a moment structures software was used to perform confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling.

Findings

The findings suggest that the personality trait of conscientiousness has a positive impact on tacit knowledge sharing behaviour. An attitude of eagerness and subjective norm were also confirmed as predictors of tacit knowledge sharing behaviour. Furthermore, conscientiousness influences the eagerness to share knowledge. A significant association between subjective norm and conscientiousness was also established. Finally, the mediating effects were identified, indicating that subjective norm and eagerness mediate the relationship between conscientiousness and tacit knowledge sharing.

Practical implications

Explaining the relationship between personality and attitude in the context of knowledge sharing will result in a better understanding of factors that should be nurtured within individuals. Accordingly, distinct management initiatives are to be developed to suit these factors. Furthermore, to intensify the knowledge exchange when working on knowledge-intensive tasks of significant economic value, organizations tailor a more particularistic application to suit the individual in the domain of leadership, staffing decisions, work organization and incentive systems.

Originality/value

This study provides an in-depth analysis and theoretical understanding of factors salient for knowledge-sharing behaviour. The authors provide an overview of how knowledge sharing evolves during social interaction through intensive problem-solving sessions and teamwork. The authors render the explanation on how the personality trait of conscientiousness, conjoint with the attitude of eagerness to share know-how in the expert surrounding, is conducive to the generation of tacit knowledge sharing. Underpinning this study are employees’ psychological motives and internal drives to communicate individual cognitive capital outweighing the potential negative consequences, such as losing the competitive advantage over the colleagues.

Details

Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. 26 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1367-3270

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 December 2022

Meby Mathew, Mervin Joe Thomas, M.G. Navaneeth, Shifa Sulaiman, A.N. Amudhan and A.P. Sudheer

The purpose of this review paper is to address the substantial challenges of the outdated exoskeletons used for rehabilitation and further study the current advancements in this…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this review paper is to address the substantial challenges of the outdated exoskeletons used for rehabilitation and further study the current advancements in this field. The shortcomings and technological developments in sensing the input signals to enable the desired motions, actuation, control and training methods are explained for further improvements in exoskeleton research.

Design/methodology/approach

Search platforms such as Web of Science, IEEE, Scopus and PubMed were used to collect the literature. The total number of recent articles referred to in this review paper with relevant keywords is filtered to 143.

Findings

Exoskeletons are getting smarter often with the integration of various modern tools to enhance the effectiveness of rehabilitation. The recent applications of bio signal sensing for rehabilitation to perform user-desired actions promote the development of independent exoskeleton systems. The modern concepts of artificial intelligence and machine learning enable the implementation of brain–computer interfacing (BCI) and hybrid BCIs in exoskeletons. Likewise, novel actuation techniques are necessary to overcome the significant challenges seen in conventional exoskeletons, such as the high-power requirements, poor back drivability, bulkiness and low energy efficiency. Implementation of suitable controller algorithms facilitates the instantaneous correction of actuation signals for all joints to obtain the desired motion. Furthermore, applying the traditional rehabilitation training methods is monotonous and exhausting for the user and the trainer. The incorporation of games, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies in exoskeletons has made rehabilitation training far more effective in recent times. The combination of electroencephalogram and electromyography-based hybrid BCI is desirable for signal sensing and controlling the exoskeletons based on user intentions. The challenges faced with actuation can be resolved by developing advanced power sources with minimal size and weight, easy portability, lower cost and good energy storage capacity. Implementation of novel smart materials enables a colossal scope for actuation in future exoskeleton developments. Improved versions of sliding mode control reported in the literature are suitable for robust control of nonlinear exoskeleton models. Optimizing the controller parameters with the help of evolutionary algorithms is also an effective method for exoskeleton control. The experiments using VR/AR and games for rehabilitation training yielded promising results as the performance of patients improved substantially.

Research limitations/implications

Robotic exoskeleton-based rehabilitation will help to reduce the fatigue of physiotherapists. Repeated and intention-based exercise will improve the recovery of the affected part at a faster pace. Improved rehabilitation training methods like VR/AR-based technologies help in motivating the subject.

Originality/value

The paper describes the recent methods for signal sensing, actuation, control and rehabilitation training approaches used in developing exoskeletons. All these areas are key elements in an exoskeleton where the review papers are published very limitedly. Therefore, this paper will stand as a guide for the researchers working in this domain.

Details

Industrial Robot: the international journal of robotics research and application, vol. 50 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-991X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 October 2020

Rocco Palumbo, Rosalba Manna and Mauro Cavallone

Telecommuting from home is back up on the agenda as a result of the unforeseen challenges brought by COVID-19. Working from home permits to avoid disruption in the ordinary…

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Abstract

Purpose

Telecommuting from home is back up on the agenda as a result of the unforeseen challenges brought by COVID-19. Working from home permits to avoid disruption in the ordinary functioning of educational institutions triggered by social distancing. However, home-based telecommuting may have some side effects on employees, especially in terms of work-life balance. Soft Total Quality Management (TQM) initiatives are needed to address these side effects. The article intends to shed light on these issues, providing some food for thought to scholars and practitioners.

Design/methodology/approach

Secondary data about the working conditions of 2,046 people employed in the education sector across Europe were investigated. A serial mediation analysis was designed to examine the direct and indirect implications of working from home on work-life balance.

Findings

The study suggests that home-based telecommuting may trigger work-to-life and life-to-work conflicts, due to the blurring of boundaries between work and everyday life. Soft tools, such as organizational meaningfulness (OM) and work-related well-being (WB), mediate the relationship between working from home (HW) and work-life conflicts (WLC), lessening the negative implications of working from home on work-life balance.

Practical implications

The design and the implementation of home-based telecommuting arrangements should include a special concern for soft TQM practices. Among others, OM and WB are likely to minimize the disruption of remote employees' jobs and interpersonal relationships. Failure to do so impairs the ability of home-based employees to make sense out of their working arrangements and to achieve a sustainable work-life balance.

Originality/value

This is one of the first attempts to illuminate the side effects of home-based telecommuting and to investigate the role of soft TQM in addressing these side effects.

Details

The TQM Journal, vol. 33 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1754-2731

Keywords

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