Search

Conventional wisdom has frequently portrayed the positive influence behind customer loyalty. After all, customer loyalty represents a customer's intention to continue buying from a firm. However, extant literature has recognized the existence of two types of customer loyalty: loyalty to the selling firm and loyalty to the salesperson. We explored the risks behind customer loyalty to the salesperson and then, how to use price delegation as a way to mitigate such risks. We examined the impact of different degrees of price delegation by conducting a survey among customers. Participants' feedback was gathered to create a customer loyalty index. The findings support our hypothesis that a lower price delegation results in lower customer loyalty to the salesperson.

Atrium Limited Liability Partnership (LLP), an architectural company with over 3,000 partners, addresses the business need to collect and organize signed tax forms to assist its international partners. This case discusses the challenges associated with the current manual process, the pursuit of a solution to automate and simplify this process and the risky decision to implement an in-house automated solution using an electronic signature. As is the case with many projects, time is of the essence and the company is taking a risk with committing resources to this project instead of following the cumbersome and inefficient tried-and-true way.

The IT or IS department of a business or other organization exists to serve the larger organization and support other parts of the organization in working to achieve departmental and organizational goals. This case explores a situation where the IT organization has lost focus on the need to serve and support the rest of the organization. The case explores problems with the technology system used to support the new employee orientation process at Cascade Sustainable Energy and follows a new IT employee as he explores the problem and looks to improve the connection between IT and the HR staff responsible for the orientation process. The similarities between a corporate new employee orientation process and the new student orientation processes used at most colleges and universities should allow students to understand the case. The case is setup to allow students to engage in developing ideas for improving the technology supporting the orientation process and to look at the existing disconnect and how it might be solved. This case can also be used to support discussion of recent studies showing that a sizable portion of business leaders have concerns about their IT organization's ability to support the company's business strategy.

In the era of rapid development and the emergence of new methods and ideas for the employees' training in small and medium sized enterprises in Russia, managers need to think about the role that the methodological organization of the educational process, which refers, not only with respect to vocational training, but also in providing the methodological foundation for teaching certain disciplines in small and medium sized enterprises in Russia. The article describes the integrative-praxicological approach in the professional training of employees, it describes the principles and requirements as a methodological basis for the educational process.

This investigation seeks to study the role of self-learning educations in promotion of professional competences employee skills of small employee medium sized enterprises. For this purpose, by providing a 15-question researcher-made questionnaire about the quality employee manner of self-learning educations, the exit poll was accomplished from the small employee medium sized enterprises of Russia so that the main question of this research was answered. This research in the domain of applicable researches is from the field type employee the methodology is descriptive from survey type. The statistical population of this investigation is formed from all employees of small employee medium sized enterprises in 19 regions of Russia that were doing their duties in the educational year of 2016-2017. The sample size of employees with regard to the Krejcie-Morgan's table was considered about 450 employees. In this investigation, in order to determine the reliability of questionnaire with emphasis on internal homogeneity, Cronbach's Alpha has been used that Alpha's coefficient was gained equal to 0.933 which is relatively high employee expresses high validity of the researcher-made questionnaire employee this researcher-made questionnaire has the content validity. Also, analysis of findings through Pearson correlation test showed that there is significant relation between the self-learning education courses employee professional skills of employees with confidence of 99% (P < 0.01) employee about 60% of total variance of scores of professional skills of employees is arising from variance of scores of self learning education courses (in other words, about 60% have common variance).

The aim of this paper is to examine the communication content of Instagram social network users, on the basis of the hashtags they use relating to gamification and to define communities within the network in the context of education. The results are based on the analysis of Instagram's worldwide social network. Primary data were collected using script to capture communication on the social network Instagram. The analysis included Instagram photos selected on the basis of hashtag #gamification (17,994 contributions). The results identify that the most commonly associated expressions with hashtags #gamification are hashtags associated with education and business, especially where startup and innovation are concerned. On the basis of an analysis visually isolated communities with an average modularity of 0.506 were identified, which relate to the communication of the gamification on the social network Instagram: 1) Education, 2) Entrepreneurship, 3) Gamification in general, 4) Social and 5) Enjoyment. The benefit of analysis for the education area is to identify the university's links between Education and Entrepreneurship and the Teacher and Trust between education and enjoyment.

The last few decades have seen increasing attacks on educators' right to participate in formal unions. Given the all-time low of formal union power in the United States and the success of anti-union efforts (Shelton, 2017), how and why have the educator uprisings manifested so intensely in the last few years? This article draws, in part, on a larger interview study the authors conducted with more than two dozen organizers of the 2018 red-state strikes in West Virginia, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Arizona. Interviews took place immediately after the strikes and, again, one year later. The authors draw on key examples from the red-state strikes, as well as historical studies of education labor, to offer two distinct yet overlapping lenses through which the resurgence of educator militancy might be understood. Their first lens centers the rise of social movement unionism in the last few decades in tension with the historical and ongoing predominance of (anti-union) professionalist orientations to the work of teaching (Peterson & Charney, 1999). Their second lens centers the rise of rank-and-file-led solidarity associations--or what they term solidarity unionism. This approach exists in tension with business or service unionist approaches that privilege centralized, hierarchical leadership, and decision-making. Key examples are offered that illuminate these tensions and movements and suggest the importance of understanding the local and situated specificities of each struggle. Through mobilizing critical bifocality, the authors aim to understand how broader histories and political movements shape the terrain of local contemporary educator movements and vice versa.

Chinese enterprise personnel are faced with the problem of intercultural adaptation. Based on Black's theory of "three-dimensional" model of intercultural adaptation, this paper proposes a "four-dimensional" model of intercultural adaptation, namely, life adaptation, work adaptation, interpersonal adaptation and Chinese image adaptation. The research method of semi-structured in-depth interview is used to interview 23 Chinese people from one Chinese enterprise in Saudi Arabia, who have worked there for at least one year. We get findings as follows: (1) Life adaptation: maladjustment is mainly reflected in religious restriction. Especially, religious regulations and taboos make the life of Chinese enterprise personnel restricted. However, there are also many aspects of adaptation, such as Saudi cuisine, living environment and leisure life, which bring the satisfaction of life demands to Chinese enterprise personnel. (2) Work adaptation: foreign companies must employ a certain proportion of local people to work in their companies; the roles of buyers and sellers in Saudi Arabia and in China are different; the concept of time is different. (3) Interpersonal adaptation: Chinese people in Saudi Arabia still have the most frequent contact with their Chinese compatriots, and it is difficult for them to develop close friendship with foreigners. Chinese people are good at creating harmonious interpersonal relationships for work through some after-work activities, such as drinking tea, eating out and holding football matches. (4) Chinese image adaptation: Chinese enterprise personnel in Saudi Arabia have decent income, and Saudi police fail to check Chinese cars, all of which make the Chinese people have a positive face value. In view of the above four adaptation situations of Chinese enterprise personnel in Saudi Arabia, the following suggestions are proposed: (1) Be strict with yourself in life, respect local social and religious customs, and also keep a careful attitude and actively deal with disadvantageous factors. (2) While benefiting from working or doing business in Saudi Arabia, we should make contributions for the development of local economy and society, providing employment and training for local people. (3) We should observe the local laws and regulations, and also follow the local and international market rules. (4) In interpersonal communication, we should combine the maintenance mode of Chinese "guanxi" (relationship) with western "principle" on the one hand, and make a difference between them on the other hand. (5) In terms of image adaptation, besides maintaining a good image politically and economically, it is also necessary to improve our individual quality and our cultural cultivation overseas, be a communicator bridging Chinese and foreign excellent culture, and build a positive national image and individual image.

In the study herein aimed at incorporating the entrepreneurship mindset early on in the engineering curriculum of undergraduate students via a final project of an introductory programming course with MATLAB. Students were asked to find a need on campus, in the society, or in the market with a business potential and write a standalone application to solve that problem. Prior to the start of project, students were required to study an online module developed by KEEN on generating new ideas in which they learned the definitions and differences between an idea and an opportunity, and different methods of recognizing business opportunities, followed by online quizzes. The study found that students were interested in learning about entrepreneurship and using the technical skills learned in class to solve a real-world problem with potential business opportunities; they enjoyed the course material more and it reinforced their learning of previous topics; and more importantly, it attracted students' attentions toward self-employment. Pre- and post-assessment of creative thinking using standard AACU rubrics also showed a significant increase in the levels of students' creative thinking skills due to participation in this project.

The higher education sector in Lebanon has undergone significant changes in the past twenty years, with a rapid increase in the number of higher education institutions that differ greatly in their missions, methodologies, and regulations. One of the remarkable differences between higher education institutions (HEI) in Lebanon is their vision and adaptation of technology into their institutions, with the lack of any government rules that guide HEIs to proper technology implementation strategies. While some institutions use international standards and models for quality assurance and management as a base for technology integration, others implement their own strategies of choosing and applying the technologies they deem appropriate. In this paper, we study the effect of technology adaptation strategies on HEIs in Lebanon and propose a model for technology integration in higher education, based on the current needs and status of the Lebanese higher education system. We build our model on the goals of achieving and assuring high quality in the pedagogy, business, and technology sectors in the HEI.

The article analyses the system of methodological principles employed in the comprehensive study of linguistic variation in diachrony. In particular, the author defines the essence of the scientific principle as a means of linguistic study as well as thoroughly describes the system of methodological principles of a diachronic study of any linguistic variations. The described methodological foundations of a diachronic study are substantiated through the prism of Ukrainian written monuments of the late Middle Ages. The paper also outlines the prospects of further theoretical and methodological scientific studies for historical linguistics. The study material comprises more than nine thousand variable language elements, recorded in the texts of business and religious writing of the late Middle Ages. The sources for the study are represented by handwritten and printed monuments of the official style of the Old Ukrainian language and the religious style of the Church Slavonic language of the Ukrainian edition. As a result of the carried out research, it has been defined that the methodology of diachronic study of variable language phenomena is based on the principles of a scientific and objective approach to the variation of the literary language in historical conditions on the basis of a complex unity of historical, systemic, anthropocentric, and synergetic directions of linguistic studies. The described methodological aspects of the study of linguistic variations can be used in training courses of general linguistics, historical grammar of the Ukrainian language, the history of the Ukrainian literary language and historical dialectology as well as in the following optional courses: "Language Variation in Diachrony", "Principles and Methods of Linguistic Analysis of Linguistic Variation", "Formation of the Ukrainian Language Standards" for students of philological departments.

The moral value is significant for everyone in every sphere of human life. Moral lessons should be properly taught among students in Schools, Colleges, Universities, Vocational training centers, Madrasas and so on. Above all, along with parents or guardians, it is the prime duty and responsibility of the educator to impart moral based values in order to develop moral qualities such as humility, integrity, truthfulness, courtesy, tolerance, sacrifice, mutual compromise etc among the youth and all level pupils. It will assist in developing positive, constructive social attitudes in new generation which prompt them to raise their moral voice against social evils. The harmonious coexistence of diverse ideologies in society requires respect for ethical and moral values. Value addition from moral education inculcates these virtues in a systematic and widely acceptable manner. Morality is basically the knowledge of knowing what is right and what is wrong. With the morality human being can preserve their sense of humanity and empathy for others' sorrows while at the same time people can retain their sense of unselfishness for others. Here in this research paper, the "Universal Education Theory" is explained and elaborated which innovated on 2019 A.D. by Dr. Rejaul Abedin, PhD, FCMAN. The innovator who strongly believes that in the present world Universal Education Theory will be useful as it will redirect to gain moral education or to train individual through morally during their academic, social and unearthly life. Moreover, Moral education can control human mind to prevent corruption, manipulation at both the micro and macro levels.

The definition of openness influenced the sustainability of business models of Open Education (OE). Yet, whether openness is defined as the free (re)usage of resources, or the free entry in courses, there always is a discussion on who pays for the resources used in these offerings. The free offering of courses or materials raises the question if OE can be maintained independent of large government subsidies. This article analyzes four cases that each have a different approach to OE and (financial) survival. The aim of this study is to determine the most efficient conditions for a sustainable OE business model. Instead of using different earning models, this research concentrates on the different aspects of unbundling (costs, income, and financiers), arguing that an adjusted Business Model Canvas can be used to analyze the not-for-profit organizations in higher education institutions (HEIs). The cases are OpenupEd, FemTechNet, MERLOT, and Lumen Learning. Openness plays different roles in the business models of the different organizations. For OpenupEd and MERLOT, openness of the materials offered to students and teachers (MOOCs, OER) is essential. For FemTechNet, openness is part of the need to collaborate and share within their community. Commercial organizations, such as Lumen Learning, use free materials to teach educational organizations to use these materials for their own courses. All four organizations use different key activities and key resources (for example, management competencies, social skills, or design and teaching skills) for their continuity. Yet, despite the differences between the case-organizations, community building is important in all cases. Either because producers and users of Open Education become identical, because standardization does decrease costs and increases findability and quality, or because they can bridge the difference between supply and competences necessary for usage of Open Education.

The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand how operating models and organizational structure impact the effectiveness of higher education institutions for students, faculty, administrators and the broader community. In this case study, the researcher uses the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Criteria (MBNQAC) to understand core values and the concepts of those seven criteria which are: 1) leadership 2) strategic planning 3) student, stakeholder and market focus 4) measurement, analysis, and knowledge management 5) faculty and staff focus 6) process management and 7) organizational performance results. These criteria are analyzed with visionary leadership and a comparison of the strategic plans of Alvernia University and Kutztown University. The changes imperatives for higher education institutions include the redesign of education, more flexible faculty, increased efficiency, removal of boundaries, and entry into new markets. In addition, challenges and conflicts facing the change process are also discussed in the context of Kotter's Change Theory. This paper advocates a pragmatic approach to analyze what works and also what are the viable solutions to known problems.

The main thrust of this paper is to explore factors from the business sector, which could inspire school leaders in terms of issue/problem formulation during their decision-making process. This conceptual paper examines diachronically and conceptually the issues of uncertainty, not only in terms of context and decision-making, but also having in mind leaders' and leadership's main characteristics as well. The question remains whether concepts of uncertainty management practices from the business sector might offer insights for school principals in order to make connections between what is happening inside and outside the organization. The paper is organized around five sections dealing with the conceptual basis of the two main terms, crisis and uncertainty and how leaders in the business sector deal with these. Following, we focus on educational leaders and their ways of navigating through crisis and uncertainty and we conclude with some observations about how leaders make the best possible decisions under the circumstances. We end the paper by stressing that, perhaps, many of the leadership qualities and characteristics needed in times of "normality" are more or less similar to those needed in times of uncertainty. However, school leaders need to learn to act faster with clearer and constant communication.

This paper analyzes how multi-level marketing companies (MLMs), via direct selling through electronic commerce (e-commerce) and social media, enact and evade federal language policy to maximize profits. Here we describe the federal language policies that govern this type of e-commerce, and in particular, the language policies of the Federal Trade Commission, which dictate what can and cannot be communicated by MLM companies and their contractors. We then illustrate how these federal language policies are enacted, and at times subverted, for financial gain during the COVID-19 economic and health crisis which rendered many people vulnerable. We draw on the discourse analysis of public documents, MLM insider sources via the first author, and over 100,000 public Instagram posts published by MLM independent contractors collected with the third-party Instagram data extraction tool, Phantombuster. We find that MLM independent contractors, although varying widely with respect to their enactment of federal and corporate policy, frequently reference COVID-19 implicitly or explicitly, a practice prohibited by federal policy. We demonstrate that quantitative and qualitative discourse analysis of language policies and practices of MLM social media provides a productive lens for understanding both the communication challenges of and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. This approach reveals the variable ways in which language policies are taken up and discourses recontextualized with new meanings and for new purposes across social media platforms.

Systematic reviews and other forms of knowledge synthesis are increasingly common in the social sciences, including in business and management research. We surveyed academic business librarians to determine the extent of their involvement, in any capacity, in knowledge syntheses. Of 71 eligible responses, 30 percent were involved in supporting knowledge synthesis, while others expressed an awareness of and interest in knowledge synthesis methods and have participated in training opportunities to support these types of projects in the future. While still nascent, knowledge synthesis support by business librarians presents potential as a new service area providing opportunities for deep engagement with faculty research.

In this analytical essay, part of Harvard Educational Review's symposium on Platform Studies in Education, Ben Williamson, Kalervo N. Gulson, Carlo Perrotta, and Kevin Witzenberger argue that global technology companies have begun acting as governance organizations in education. Their analysis focuses on the global technology company Amazon, which has begun penetrating education through a connective architecture of digital infrastructure and platform services. Looking at Amazon technical documentation and publicly available materials, the authors identify and examine five interlocking governance operations and their effects: inscribing commercial business models on the education sector, habituating educational users to Amazon technologies, creating new interfaces with educational institutions, platforming third-party education providers on the cloud, and seeking market dominance over provision and control of key information infrastructures of education. In showing how Amazon is potentially developing infrastructural dominance in the education sector as part of its transformation into a statelike corporation with significant social, technical, economic, and political power to govern and control state and public services, this article highlights the broader implications of increasing technological governance in education.

This article demonstrates how, and provides all necessary material, to utilize experiential classroom integration of an earthquake insurance policy as an engaging and immersive tool to introduce business law students to applied contract analysis and interpretation. Students also gain an understanding of insurance concepts through this exercise. This exercise engages students in collaborative problem-solving via a small group project and is designed for use in a single class session, combining teamwork, communication, and contract analysis skills. Through detailed detective work to locate relevant contract terms and application of various factual scenarios, this project involves the applied development of problem-solving skills associated with multiple scenarios and reinforces logic practices by requiring students to justify their conclusions. Most importantly, students gain skills in navigating a complex contract like an insurance policy that translate into a valuable talent for the nascent businessperson.

This article contributes to the literature supporting the importance of legal knowledge in business and business education by making three underappreciated points about the rule of law as an integral element of business education. First, students need legal knowledge not only because it is necessary for surviving in a competitive business environment but also to address troubling evidence that managers trained with an MBA underappreciate its value. Firms must require that every manager possess skills in legal knowledge and legal astuteness in order to minimize the risks of litigation or government sanction. Second, the fact that legal knowledge creates value for organizations is not a mere supposition but is supported by empirically driven research studying firm performance. Finally it explores more broadly the value of a well-regulated environment to markets and society.

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the characteristics of learning environments and the related human resource (HR) practices in two Hungarian information technology (IT) companies. The aim of the contribution is to provide an empirical in-depth analysis of how learning environments are being created and managed in knowledge-intensive small- and medium-sized enterprises. Design/methodology/approach: This study is based on the analysis of two company case studies. Relying on semi-structured interviews, the following research question was formulated: Are knowledge-intensive organisations necessarily accompanied by an expansive learning environment and HR practices consistent with that? Findings: The lessons learned from the two case studies indicate that there is no direct link between knowledge-intensive work and an expansive learning environment. The establishment of a specific type of learning environment is rather connected to the types of knowledge being used in the labour process and the management's perspective on learning and development. It also implies that companies, instead of representing unified models, may combine various elements of an expansive and restrictive learning environment. Originality/value: The originality of the findings of this study lies in the interpretative linking of learning environments and HR practices in medium-sized IT companies.

While research on Entrepreneurial University has largely focused on the support to venture creation, its contribution to youth employment and society might be much broader. Entrepreneurial capabilities and attitudes students acquire at universities are crucial also in waged jobs, and firms need employees predisposed to act entrepreneurially to stay competitive. However, we do not know much about the role of universities in preparing the next generation of graduates for such challenges. To address this gap, in this paper we investigate the extent to which entrepreneurial learning at university contributes to students' career intentions to work for small rather than larger firms. Additionally, we consider the role of the family context and investigate how the university's influence on students' career intentions is moderated by students' exposure to entrepreneurship in their family. Using data from 155,358 students, we find that entrepreneurial learning at university is negatively associated with the preference to work for small firms compared to larger firms and that this effect is even more pronounced for students with enterprising family background, particularly those who have shares in their parents' company. Besides contributing to research on Entrepreneurial University and career intentions, our findings offer practical implications for universities and employers.

Purpose: This paper aims to present the results from a case study that investigated interorganizational learning in a buyer and seller relationship in the context of the maritime industry. This examination emphasized unraveling how the buyer and seller in the case study interacted and transferred knowledge when using a new business model that relied on servitization. Furthermore, this paper also addresses and discusses work practices, and the relationship between intra- and interorganizational learning. Design/methodology/approach: A case study entailing the introduction of digital technology and a new business model into the maritime industry was used as an empirical example of interorganizational learning. The case study was conducted over a period of over one year and focused on a buyer of freight ships and a seller of servitized technology used on the ships. The organizations involved were the ships, the shipowner's office and the ship engine supplier. The primary data acquisition methods comprised semi-structured interviews and observations. Findings: The case identified interorganizational learning within the organizations at the individual, group and organizational levels, but only a few learning signs could be viewed as bidirectional interorganizational learning that can create knowledge and competitive advantages for the organizations. This is explained by the interorganizational learning context and the organizations' motivation for learning at a strategic level. Originality/value: This paper addresses an identified need for empirical studies on how interorganizational learning unfolds within organizations and connects to intraorganizational learning. Interorganizational learning studies often examine partnerships and joint ventures, in which partners have entered into these relationships with learning as a specific goal. By choosing a case in which interorganizational collaboration is anchored in operational matters, the study demonstrates the importance of motivation and agenda when entering into partnerships, concerning how inter- and intraorganizational learning develops within organizations. Furthermore, approaching these levels from an interrelated and practice-oriented perspective challenges established success criteria for interorganizational learning.

This study empirically examines how graduate students' attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, knowledge, and acceptance of agro-business influence student intention to start agro-entrepreneurship and the moderating effect of gender and faculty on the relationship among the factors based on the Theory of Planned Behavior. The study adopted the cross-sectional design from 300 public university students. The results of the study revealed that attitude toward agro-entrepreneurship, perceived behavioral control, and acceptance of agro-entrepreneurial exert a positive and significant effect on agro-entrepreneurial intention among university students. Moreover, the gender-based multiple group analysis revealed that male graduate students accept more agro-business than female students. Thus, policy makers can facilitate the promotion of agro-entrepreneurship among graduate students. Based on Theory of Planned Behavior, this study improves our understanding on university students' agro-entrepreneurial intention in Malaysia. Finally, the discussion, recommendations and conclusion of the study are discussed in the research paper.

Post-industrial society has witnessed trends according to which the labour market has become more flexible, services have expanded and immaterial work and horizontal work organisation has emerged, shaping professions in respect to the employment and work they can offer. An outcome of these trends is a portfolio career, an employment pattern based on holding down multiple jobs, which increases the variation in the quality of career trajectories. Portfolio careers, however, are shaped at the intersection of industry and profession. This article studies the quality of a professional portfolio career by investigating the employment pattern and the task profile. Two case studies, one involving business consulting professionals and the other professionals in the creative industry, are investigated. The study is based on the analysis of interview data. For both professional groups, the quality of employment was impaired by the insecurity inherent in a portfolio career, but the quality of the professional profile of tasks was relatively adequate. For the consulting professionals studied, the quality of the task profile is due to the coherent but multidisciplinary continuum of tasks, which in turn is due to the market-based service industry. For the professionals in the creative industry, the profile consisted of professional tasks and tasks external to the profession, which is due to underemployment in the industry.

This chapter is intended for practitioners and scholars seeking to learn more about organizational finances. A hallmark of the U.S. higher education system is its heterogeneity. From research universities to community colleges, each institution seeks to excel in serving its respective mission. To do so, the institution must have a viable business model that ensures it generates sufficient revenue to offset expenditures. This article describes the business models currently used by different sectors of higher education, emerging threats to those business models, and the potential strategies that can be employed in response to those threats.

The research background rests on the shortcomings of existing electronic business development models. The main aspects of the framework for e-business development as a prerequisite for sustainable competitive advantage are based on an analysis of scientific literature on sustainable competitive advantage and electronic business development. The paper aims to form a framework of electronic business development model oriented at the creation of sustainable competitive advantage for the enterprise. The research methodology consists of the critical analysis of e-business development and the analysis and related theories of the sustainable competitive advantage activities based on task-oriented questions that were met using the method of essential components identification. The main research findings are presented in the form of newly formed framework for the development of an electronic business that integrates the goals of economic, ecologic, and social dimensions into the IT-driven business activities. The framework is based on four dimensions identified as key to the company and influenced by the use of information technology: the dimensions of interoperability and robustness that incorporate external environment factors; value creation that includes the internal environment; the productivity dimension that includes changes to IT infrastructure and separation of key business areas.

The article aims to investigate consumer perception of innovations in e-commerce and according to exploratory research results to define further research areas. Literature analysis was performed to investigate and identify important criteria of e-commerce quality perception, after exploratory research was conducted, in order to deepen the knowledge and drawback of further research trends. For exploratory research, questionnaire and descriptive statistics were employed. The results of empirical research show that usage of innovations in e-commerce can have a positive impact on business performance since customers demonstrate a positive attitude towards innovative solutions in e-commerce. All three innovative solutions presented in research (gamification, augmented reality, and big data analysis) were evaluated positively as an advantage for e-commerce by a significant amount of responders.

Purpose: This study examined the economic and social impact of Malaysian universities on their communities from stakeholders' perspectives. It analysed whether university stakeholders' spending, human capital (HC) and knowledge exploration (KE) will impact aggregate income (AI), quality of life (QOL) and business growth (BG) in surrounding communities. Design/methodology/approach: A survey was conducted among 540 university stakeholders from the southern, northern and eastern regions of Malaysia, representing the alumni, community and industry. Data were subjected to factor analysis using structural equation modelling (SEM). Findings: Results showed that universities impacted communities' economic development and wellbeing, thereby fulfilling their community-related role. Originality/value: This study addressed universities' role in communities' economic growth and social development. Universities' contributions towards communities can be improved through the proposed model, which suggests ways to maximise their impact. A more detailed study of a particular university is needed to identify other factors that can strengthen universities' impact, even at national and global levels.

Profound technological changes and high network levels have triggered competitive innovations and leadership style among firms. However, few studies have explored the leadership style needed to innovate within the duality of coopetition capabilities and in-learning. Therefore, the authors explore how leadership style affects innovation performance in the context of financial service firms. Using a PLS analytical approach and dynamic capability perspective (DCP), the authors find that coopetition capability positively mediates the relationship between leadership style and innovation performance. The finding also indicates that in-learning negatively moderates the relationship between coopetition capability and innovation performance.

Identity directly impacts how university students behave and make decisions in entrepreneurial practice. Therefore, it is significant to explore the factors influencing the identity construction of student-entrepreneurs to understand how processes are internalized by students, which may then affect their entrepreneurial identity. This article interrogates the formation and transition of the entrepreneurial identity of student-entrepreneurs in a Chinese research university. This paper argues that identity formation is a dynamic and nonlinear process where both role and social identities are involved in its development. Factors that would promote the desired identity formation would include, among others, a tolerant atmosphere across universities, integrating identity issues into the process of entrepreneurship education, and providing university-wide support for entrepreneurship which will be beneficial to improving and sustaining entrepreneurial identity among students.

In 2019, the Business Roundtable changed its long-standing commitment to shareholder wealth maximization in favor of stakeholder capitalism. Business schools tend to teach the shareholder view in finance courses and the stakeholder view in business ethics courses. Given the increasing popularity of stakeholder capitalism, is it time for business educators--whether teaching finance or business ethics--to abandon the shareholder approach in favor of stakeholder capitalism? The author examines the shareholder wealth maximization and stakeholder capitalism approaches and trends in socially responsible investing. The article concludes with a proposed harmonization of the shareholder and stakeholder views.

Due to the popularity of sport, the need to have sport management programs that properly train practitioners is justified (Pedersen & Thibault, 2014). However, with 505 sport management bachelors programs worldwide ("Degrees in Sports," n.d.) housed in various academic units, there is little consistency within the field of study. This paper strives to explore the field of sport management and to better understand sport management faculty members' perceptions of the discipline. Grounded in Foucault's (1971) theory of discourse, total of 154 sport management faculty members worldwide participated in the study. The data revealed there is a lack of consistency within the field regarding faculty members' perceptions of sport management. This study offers a vital, first step in an empirical examination of a critical phenomenon in the sport management academy.

This article is a concise, comprehensive overview of the history of sustainability and sustainable design. The goal is to provide a ready-made lesson plan on the history of sustainability in its many forms: development, conservation, energy, manufacturing, design, agriculture, business, cultural/societal, and environmental science. The articles in this series demonstrate a means by which multiple Technology and Engineering Core Contexts can be integrated simultaneously. [For Part 2, see EJ1382644.]

The aim of this study is to determine the objectives in the Middle School Mathematics Course Curriculum that can be associated with entrepreneurship education and to prepare activities/questions related to these objectives to be studied in gaining entrepreneurship skills. The curriculum was examined according to the framework developed by Tarhan (2019b), which consists of the dimensions of business idea, finance, product design and production, promotion and marketing, and investment within entrepreneurship education. The data obtained through the examination of the objectives were analyzed by descriptive analysis, and it was determined that at least one objective could be associated with each of the dimensions at each grade level. In total, 42 objectives in the learning domains of 'numbers and operations, geometry and measurement, algebra, probability, and data processing' were determined related to the dimensions of entrepreneurship skills. Accordingly, sample activities/questions to be studied in gaining 20 different sub-skills of entrepreneurship education were prepared and it was suggested that further research can be conducted to investigate the effectiveness of these activities/questions prepared to develop entrepreneurship skills.

The many genres of action learning have contributed to solving business and social problems, individual development and organisational learning. Different authors have scrutinised the role of the action-learning facilitator in upholding the precepts of action learning. Whilst the responsibilities of the facilitator to the group are significant, this paper concentrates on the personal transformation of facilitators who have transitioned into the role in an application of business-driven action learning. Hence, this study explores how individuals who took on the role of action-learning facilitator experienced genuine personal development. This exploration, within a South African context, offers a perspective on facilitator growth, a subject which has not gained much traction in the action-learning literature. The findings offer insight into the internalisation of action-learning principles, critical shifts and heightened learnings for facilitators.

Purpose: This study aims to analyze recent publications (2015-2020) that refer to educational and social entrepreneurship to identify the primary emerging themes and gaps of entrepreneurship research and management that would be helpful for future studies and entrepreneurial ventures. Design/methodology/approach: The authors used systematic mapping to review 92 research articles that address educational innovation and social entrepreneurship. All the articles were published between 2015 and January 2020 and were found in the Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus databases. Findings: The data analysis identified the following: the articles most frequently cited, the journals that published the highest number of relevant articles, the geographical distribution of these publications and their authors, the context of the research, the lines and themes that emerged, and the gaps in the literature regarding the research and management of educational and social entrepreneurship. Research limitations/implications: The search for articles was limited to educational and social entrepreneurship innovations and the English language; thus, studies published in other languages were not analyzed. Originality/value: The analysis of this research allowed us to review concepts and identify research methods employed and thematic lines analyzed. Therefore, the work is of value for educational and social entrepreneurs and researchers who wish to examine such concepts or focus on areas not yet fully explored.

Purpose: This paper aims to address the relevance and impact of the fourth industrial revolution through a theoretical and practical perspective. The authors present both the results of a literature review, highlighting the new competences required in innovative workplaces and a pivotal case, which explores challenges and skill models diffused in industry 4.0, describing the role of proper organizational learning processes in shaping new work cultures. Design/methodology/approach: The paper aims to enhance the discussion around the 4.0 industrial revolution addressing both a theoretical framework, valorizing the existing scientific contributes and the situated knowledge, embedded in a concrete organizational context in which the fourth industrial revolution is experienced and practiced. Findings: The findings acquired through the case study endorse what the scientific literature highlights about the impact, the new competences and the organizational learning paths. The conclusions address the agile approach to work as the more suitable way to place humans at the center of technological progress. Research limitations/implications: The paper explores a specific organizational context, related to a high-tech multinational company, whose results illustrate the empirical evidence sustaining transformations in the working, professional and organizational cultures necessary to face the challenges of the fourth industrial revolution. The research was conducted with the managers of an international company and this a specific and limited target, even though relevant and interesting. Practical implications: The paper connects the case with the general scenario, this study currently faces, to suggest hints and coordinates for crossing the unfolding situation and finding suitable matching between technological evolution and the development of new work and professional cultures and competences. Social implications: Due to the acceleration that the COVID-19 has impressed to the use of digital technologies and remote connexion, the paper highlights some ambivalences that the quick evolution of the new technologies entails in relation to work and social conditions. Originality/value: The opportunity to match both a literature analysis and an in-depth situated case study enhances the possibility to achieve a more articulated and complex view of the viral changes generated in the current context by the digitalization process.

The urgency of the current climate crisis emphasizes the need for university graduates equipped with relevant knowledge and skills to tackle environmental and social problems such as material consumption, environmental degradation and inequality at all spatial scales. Geographic and spatially sensitive concepts and approaches to sustainability and greening are particularly relevant as best practices and success models are not easily transferable across different contexts. But how can students learn the necessary skills to connect theory with practice? Based on a third-year geography module at a British university that teaches green economy concepts, this paper presents insights from a problem- and project-based group learning exercise designed to help students translate conceptual approaches into practice highlighting the strength of geographic thinking. As part of the exercise, students work in groups to develop a green project that they present in a green dragons' den-style ideas pitch to an expert panel for evaluation. Students are tasked to develop innovative, feasible and applicable proposals that address specific sustainability challenges. Findings from five consecutive years of teaching illustrate the value of project- and problem-based learning to students through the diversity of practical applications, the need for critical thinking and context-dependent assessments and enhanced transferable skills.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse whether there is an adjustment between the Portuguese higher education supply and the needs of the labour market. Design/methodology/approach: An empirical study is performed, using a quantitative approach, relating the job offers for graduates registered at the employment centres and the number of graduates by higher education institutions (HEIs) in Portugal, at an aggregate level and NUT II regions, by areas of education and training, over the 2003-2018 period. To understand how job offers and graduates are correlated, bilateral Spearman's rank correlation coefficients were calculated. Findings: The results show that, in large groups of educational areas, exists a match between the higher education supply and the labour market needs, with an emphasis on the fields of "social sciences, business and law", "engineering, manufacturing and construction" and "health and welfare". However, at a more disaggregated level, a mismatch in the sub-areas of "teacher training and education science" and "computing" was found since labour market needs are much greater than graduates by HEIs and the two variables are moving in opposite directions. Practical implications: The study has revealed important aspects that the educational policy should take into account in order to create the conditions for a gradual adjustment to the labour market needs. Also, the results demonstrate that some measures should be taken in short/medium term to avoid problems in the medium/long term. Originality/value: One implication of this empirical study was the elaboration of a correspondence table to standardise the data analysis units from two different sources. As this correspondence did not exist prior to this study, this output is a relevant contribution to the research field. Another important contribution is the demonstration of a mismatch in some educational sub-areas that deserves special attention from educational policymakers.