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1 – 9 of 9Fátima Monteiro and Armando Sousa
The purpose of the article is to develop an innovative pedagogic tool: an escape room board game to be played in-class, targeting an introduction to an ethics course for…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the article is to develop an innovative pedagogic tool: an escape room board game to be played in-class, targeting an introduction to an ethics course for engineering students. The design is student-centred and aims to increase students' appreciation, commitment and motivation to learning ethics, a challenging endeavour for many technological students.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology included the design, development and in-class application of the mentioned game. After application, perception data from students were collected with pre- and post-action questionnaire, using a quasi-experimental method.
Findings
The results allow to conclude that the developed game persuaded students be in class in an active way. The game mobilizes body and mind to the learning process with many associated advantages to foster students' motivation, curiosity, interest, commitment and the need for individual reflection after information search.
Research limitations/implications
The main limitation of the game is its applicability to large classes (it has been successfully tested with a maximum of 65 students playing simultaneously in the same room).
Originality/value
The originalities and contributions include the presented game that helped to captivate students to ethics area, a serious problem felt by educators and researchers in this area. This study will be useful to educators of ethics in engineering and will motivate to design tools for a similar pedagogical approach, even more so in areas where students are not especially motivated. The developed tool is available from the authors at no expense.
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Saara A. Brax, Armando Calabrese, Nathan Levialdi Ghiron, Luigi Tiburzi and Christian Grönroos
Previous research reports mixed results regarding the performance impact of servitization in manufacturing firms. To resolve this, the purpose of this paper is to develop a…
Abstract
Purpose
Previous research reports mixed results regarding the performance impact of servitization in manufacturing firms. To resolve this, the purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptually consistent and comprehensive measurement framework for both dimensions, servitization and its performance effect, and apply in a configurational analysis to reexamine previous evidence, arriving at a configurational theory of the relationship between servitization and firm performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Combining systematic literature review (SLR) and inductive reasoning, the existing indicators for servitization and performance are identified and clustered into groups that adequately represent both dimensions. The dataset is reanalyzed against the resulting framework to identify the configurational patterns and to formulate the theoretical propositions.
Findings
Financial and nonfinancial indicators of servitization and its performance impact are organized into a comprehensive measurement framework grounded on existing research. The subsequent meta-analysis shows that the positive or negative impacts of servitization on performance depend on how firms implement servitization strategies and which performance aspects are examined.
Research limitations/implications
The results explain when servitization can be successful and confirm the existence of the so-called servitization paradox. The meta-analysis identified patterns that explain the previous mixed results, shaping a configurational theory of servitization. Thus, the measurement framework is conceptually robust and has sufficient detail to capture servitization and its performance outcome as it feasibly distinguished between different organizational configurations.
Originality/value
The framework provides a comprehensive portfolio of indicators for both managers and scholars to measure servitization intensity and performance. This supports managers of servitizing firms in leading this organizational transformation while avoiding its organizational and financial paradoxes.
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Crystal Tremblay and Ana Maria Peredo
The purpose of this chapter is to document the use of Participatory Action Research methods as an effective approach for community empowerment and strategies for more inclusive…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this chapter is to document the use of Participatory Action Research methods as an effective approach for community empowerment and strategies for more inclusive public policy.
Design/methodology
The methodology draws on a “participatory video” project with recycling cooperatives in São Paulo, Brazil, and documents the process, benefits, and challenges of using action-oriented methods and tools as an approach to build capacity for political and social change. The authors provide a step-by-step process of facilitating a PV project, its application for policy engagement, and some of the major dilemmas in using PV, including representation, power, and vulnerability.
Findings
The research findings conclude that the application of Participatory Action Research as a research method in social entrepreneurship, contributes significantly to build transformative capacity in participating members, in addition to creating new spaces for inclusive policy.
Originality/value
The research is unique in that it points to creative and transformative methods of engagement for inclusive governance, embracing multiple forms of personal identity, knowledge and creative expression in moving toward new solutions for equal opportunities and possibilities for change. Participatory video is argued to be an innovative avenue for the inclusion of multiple voices in these arenas, voices of people otherwise left on the margins. Participatory video is an approach that has the potential to transform the way we (local and global) move toward greater social equity, human compassion, and environmental flourishing.
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Domitilla Magni, Armando Papa, Veronica Scuotto and Manlio Del Giudice
A paucity of studies has used a microfoundation lens to examine servitization processes in internationalized knowledge-intensive business service (KIBS) companies. The research…
Abstract
Purpose
A paucity of studies has used a microfoundation lens to examine servitization processes in internationalized knowledge-intensive business service (KIBS) companies. The research aims to bridge this gap by considering knowledge sharing as a form of both codified knowledge and informal feedback knowledge; it also assesses whether the adoption of knowledge transfer and translation practices in a servitization process positively moderates the effect of knowledge transformation on knowledge sharing for internationalized KIBS companies.
Design/methodology/approach
By adopting a microfoundation lens, the research offers an empirical analysis to identify the relations between codified and tacit knowledge in servitization processes within internationalized KIBS companies. The study is based on 326 respondents from 30 KIBS companies. A multiple regression analysis was used for hypotheses testing.
Findings
The authors found significant relations among the use of electronic documents in the servitization process (formal codified knowledge), personal advice in servitization (informal feedback knowledge) and knowledge sharing in internationalized KIBS companies. Findings also support the indirect effect assumed in the hypothesis between knowledge transformation and knowledge sharing in internationalized KIBS companies, which is positively moderated by the adoption of cross-cultural knowledge practices in the servitization process.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research provides the first conceptual model of the use of a microfoundation lens to examine knowledge sharing in internationalized KIBS companies. The micro level features individual knowledge sharing in the servitization process, while the meso level focuses on knowledge transformation in KIBS companies and the adoption of knowledge transfer and translation practices in the servitization process.
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Carolina Alcantar-Nieblas, Leonardo David Glasserman-Morales, Ernesto Armando Pacheco-Velazquez and Sergio Augusto Ramírez Echeverri
The present study examined the psychometric properties of the EGame- flow scale in a Mexican sample, presenting evidence of construct validity (exploratory factor analysis and…
Abstract
Purpose
The present study examined the psychometric properties of the EGame- flow scale in a Mexican sample, presenting evidence of construct validity (exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis), reliability (Cronbach’s alpha and McDonald’s omega) and discriminant validity (mean variance extracted).
Design/methodology/approach
Participants: Of the 255 Mexican participants in the non-probabilistic sample who had previously interacted with the LOST logistics simulator, 166 (65%) were men and 89 (35%) were women; their ages ranged from 22 to 45. The statistical packages SPSS 25, JASP 0.16 and AMOS 23 facilitated the corresponding analyses. First, we calculated the means and standard deviations of the scale items. Next, we performed an exploratory factor analysis to examine the measurement model’s internal structure and a confirmatory factor analysis to confirm the structure proposed in the exploratory factor analysis. To analyze the internal structure of the measurement model so that the estimates were not affected by multivariate normality problems, we utilized the AMOS bootstrap method (with 500 repetitions, 95% CI), the maximum likelihood (MV) estimation method, and the fit indices: X2, p (chi-square and associated likelihood), Tucker–Lewis index (TLI), standardized statistical mean square residual (SRMR), comparative fit index (CFI) and root mean Square error approximation (RMSEA) with its confidence interval, the values of X2 with p < 0.001; TLI, CFI, AGFI = 0.95; RMSEA and SRMR = 0.08 (Byrne, 2016). Finally, we estimated the reliability of the measurement model with Cronbach’s alpha (a), McDonald’s omega (ω) coefficient and the mean variance extracted (VME).
Findings
An exploratory factor analysis with the MV method and obliminal rotation showed a good fit of the data to the model, which aligns with the significance of the Barlette sphericity test (X2 = 8443.2, p < 0.000) and the Kaiser–Meyer-Olkin (KMO) value of 0.94. The indices confirmed the fit of the data to the six-dimensional model for measuring the users' level of enjoyment of online games (X2 = 678.2 gl = 411, p = 0.000; SRMR = 0.05; TLI = 0.95, CFI = 0.95 and RMSEA = 0.05, IC 90% [0.04, 0.05]).
Research limitations/implications
The self-reporting format of the scale increases the social desirability of the responses, but the sample only collects information from a specific geographic location, so these findings cannot extrapolate to populations with very marked cultural differences. Finally, the study did not measure other validity evidence, such as predictive and concurrent validity, which should be considered in future studies.
Practical implications
From a practical perspective, the study offers a measurement scale with fewer items and robust psychometric evidence that ensures the fit of the data to the EGame-flow measurement scale. Further research must continue to learn about the behavior of the EGame-flow scale in different samples that new evidence of psychometric properties continues to appear and that other factors associated with the users' gaming enjoyment experience are analyzed.
Originality/value
The value and originality of the study lie in the type of evidence of psychometric properties that the instrument has and particularly in the style of sample in which the study is carried out, in this case, in the context of Mexico, where there are not enough instruments that measure the flow experience of users.
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ANGOLA: Regime prioritises its interests over economy
Diego Armando Marín-Idárraga and Juan Carlos Cuartas
The purpose of this paper is to determine the effect of the co-alignment of structural variables on innovation, wherein Bogotá-based SMEs, belonging to the industrial, commercial…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to determine the effect of the co-alignment of structural variables on innovation, wherein Bogotá-based SMEs, belonging to the industrial, commercial and services sectors, were used as samples.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was conducted using a causal inference methodology and through the application of a structural equation model.
Findings
The results indicate that organizational structure has an influence on innovation, although this is true only for some variables and only when the analysis is performed separately. When performed under strategic co-alignment conditions, however, its influence becomes greater.
Originality/value
Organizational structure and innovation are determining factors of organizational performance. Although the strategic co-alignment theory has provided points of reference to understanding the phenomenon of organizational performance, there are still many gaps left to be filled. Additionally, it also requires empirical validation especially in relation to Colombian SMEs – and this is where this work makes a contribution.
Propósito
El objetivo de este artículo es determinar el efecto de la co-alineación de las variables estructurales con la innovación en una muestra de Pymes Bogotanas de los sectores industrial, comercial y de servicios.
Metodología
El estudio se llevó a cabo mediante una metodología de inferencia causal aplicando un modelo de ecuaciones estructurales.
Resultados
Los resultados indican que la estructura organizacional influye sobre la innovación solo desde algunas variables cuando el análisis se realiza por separado, pero cuando el análisis se efectúa en condiciones de co-alineación estratégica, el impacto es mayor.
Valor
La estructura organizacional y la innovación son factores determinantes del desempeño organizacional. Si bien la teoría de la co-alineación estratégica ha entregado los referentes para comprender el fenómeno del desempeño en la organización, aún faltan muchos vacíos por llenar y más validación empírica, sobre todo en las influencias con la innovación y especialmente en el ámbito de las Pymes Colombianas. Este trabajo realiza un aporte en este sentido.
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Eyo Essien, George Lodorfos and Ioannis Kostopoulos
This paper aims to develop and test a conceptual model of supplier selection decisions in the public sector. The study seeks to determine the relative importance of a broad range…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to develop and test a conceptual model of supplier selection decisions in the public sector. The study seeks to determine the relative importance of a broad range of non-economic variables in explaining supplier selection decisions during strategic organizational purchases.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from a national sample of 341 senior staff and top management team (TMT) members in 40 public sector organizations in Nigeria by using structured questionnaires.
Findings
Results of structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis shows that government policy requirements, social ties of organizational actors, party politics, decision-makers’ experience and the perception of instrumental ethical work climates are the most important determinants of strategic supplier selection decisions, followed in a descending order of importance by the perception of rules ethical work climates, self-enhancement personal values, CEOs’ structural position, self-transcendent personal values and the perception of time pressure. Findings also indicate that the choice of a supplier per se is not an important determinant of organizational performance.
Originality/value
No prior study has brought together, in a single model, the broad range of variables employed in this study with a view to exploring their relative importance in explaining public sector supplier selection decisions in a non-western country context. The findings of this study have implications for Marketing Managers looking to do business with public sector firms in emerging markets.
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Emanuel Gomes, Miguel Pina e Cunha, David B. Zoogah, Geoffrey Wood and Peter Ping Li