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Purpose: With the growth of digital education, students increasingly interact in a variety of ways. The potential effects of these interactions on their learning process are not fully understood and the outcomes may depend on the tool used. This study explores the communication patterns and learning effectiveness developed by students using two basic synchronous and asynchronous communication tools in e-learning environments, specifically business simulation games. Design/methodology/approach: The authors conduct a quasi-experiment research with 478 online business students, 267 of whom used online discussion forums and 211 interacted via an instant messaging app. The application of learning analytics and text mining on natural language processing allows us to explore the student communication patterns with each of tools and their effectiveness in terms of learning. Findings: The results confirm the complementarity of the communication tools, asynchronous tools being especially the suitable for task-related communication and synchronous ones for speeding up and facilitating student social interactions. Originality/value: The main value of this research lies in the use of data analytics and text mining to access and analyse the content of student interactions to assess the learning process in greater depth, comparing synchronous and asynchronous learning modes, considering that little is known about the impact of online synchronous interaction or instant messaging, and even less about the different features, content and performance that emerge when these two learner interaction modalities are compared.

This paper aims to analyse whether the entrepreneurial competencies acquired by students when they work on a business plan have any kind of influence on student learning process results in terms of gender. To do so, we used data obtained from questionnaires distributed among 425 students on the Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. Comparing men and women, we performed exploratory factor analyses on competencies and learning process results, and linear regression analyses to determine the influence of gender and competencies on learning. Our findings indicated that women reported poorer learning results than men using the business plan methodology. Another key finding was the highly positive influence on learning process results of time-management and entrepreneurial competencies in particular. Finally, we found no significant differences between men and women in terms of the impact of competencies on learning process results.

The objective of this study is to analyse the contribution of students of vocational education and training (VET) to the innovation processes of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) during their apprenticeships. Qualitative research was conducted through in-depth interviews with 97 respondents in Catalonia, including VET teachers and students, SME managers, and social and institutional agents. Our findings reveal that public institutions have a partial view of innovation, mostly influenced by an industrial positioning, which leads to the neglect of other components, such as the social aspects. In addition, regarding public programmes designed to foster innovation through VET, the results show a lack of coordination between VET schools, SMEs and public administrations. Finally, in relation to apprentices, we find a low participation in innovation processes by students during their apprenticeship as a consequence of the bad implementation of innovation public programmes, due to the lack of coordination between VET schools and SMEs.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to study which perceived and attained entrepreneurial competences acquired by students while developing a business plan are rated most highly; and second, to analyse the differences observed in entrepreneurial competences, depending on whether the business plan developed is real or fictitious. Design/methodology/approach: To analyse the role played by business plans in perceptions and attainment of competence, data were collected from students enrolled on a final project course of a bachelor's degree, specifically the Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration and Management at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. The course in question focussed on entrepreneurship and business plans. The data on perceived and attained competences were obtained through questionnaires and assessment rubrics, respectively. Mean comparison analyses were conducted to investigate any differences in entrepreneurial competences existing between students developing real or fictitious business plans. Findings: The paper finds evidence that the process of creating a business plan results in entrepreneurial competence being highly rated and that whether the business plan is real or fictitious does not affect the level of entrepreneurial competence. Research limitations/implications: A longitudinal study will be required to analyse how entrepreneurial competences evolve during the business plan creation process. Originality/value: This paper finds that few studies have been conducted to explore entrepreneurial competences in relation to business plan development and shows that more complete research is required. Moreover, both perceived and achieved competences are considered, an analysis not previously carried out.

Purpose: In the last few years, the interest on professional identity development (PID) and the factors that influence PID has become central in higher education (HE) literature. However, the knowledge developed in this domain has focussed on a factor at a time and on a degree or discipline, thus being difficult to have a general picture of all the factors that influence the development of professional identity in HE. The purpose of this paper is to try to go further by proposing a systematic and integrative conceptual framework on the factors that influence PID of HE students. Design/Methodology/Approach: To identify the influencing factors on PID the authors used primary and secondary data sources. In particular, the authors first conducted a thorough literature review to identify the influencing factors on PID already studied, and second the authors conducted a qualitative pilot study through four Focus Groups to identify new factors not acknowledged before. Findings: The resulting integrative conceptual framework considers the following categories of influencing factors on PID: social experience, educational context, perceived congruence with the profession, demographic characteristics, professional image, professional experience, personal development and self-engagement. Research Limitations/Implications: The proposed framework constitutes a roadmap for future research on career development and counselling to develop in order to enhance PID at university. Nonetheless, this proposed conceptual framework needs to be validated with empirical data. Originality/Value: This paper integrates all the existing knowledge on the influencing factors on PID from different disciplines by constructing a conceptual framework to be validated with further research.

A rapid pace of change presents an unforeseen and perpetual competitive challenge for organizations. Despite the existence of numerous change management models, organizational change leaders often encounter obstacles during the implementation phase that limit change effectiveness. This paper seeks to make a difference in managerial actions, specifically when implementing planned change, by directing them to use specific leadership actions during the change stage. While previous research has acknowledged the potential linkage between leadership and change effectiveness, a comprehensive exploration of this relationship within the realm of strategic change management remains lacking. This study aims to address this gap by comparing transactional and transformational leadership styles through the lens of the leadership-as-practice perspective. Specifically, this paper analyzes the alignment of these leadership styles with the Kotter model for implementing organizational change and investigates which leadership components or behaviors positively impact predetermined stages of change. Using the MLQ and a developed Kotter questionnaire, data was collected from 385 Lebanese employees working in SMEs experiencing change across the five provinces of Lebanon. PLS structural equation modeling was utilized to analyze the results, and the GoF value indicated that the study model is valid to be considered as a PLS global model. Our findings shed light on the dynamic interplay between leadership efficacy and distinct change stages. Rooted in the leadership-as-practice perspective, this study contributes a nuanced understanding of effective leadership's crucial role in navigating the multifaceted challenges of organizational change, offering insights for practitioners and scholars alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adding more scope and breadth to the reviews on leadership literature, this paper aims at developing a bibliometric study on 1059 articles that covered transactional and transformational leadership styles research and are published in the Web of Science (WOS) and Scopus platforms from 2004 to 2019. This bibliometric review implies providing a map of this field using VOSViewer visualisation of co-citation, co-occurrence and co-authorship, and descriptive analysis to show the quality of the publications. The aim of this review is to determine the evolution of research, where this topic raises a greater interest, among which academics, countries and journals, the most relevant affiliations and their collaborations and to identify the research with greater impact, developing several citation analyses. This study draws conclusions and up-to-date insights to provide readers with a preview on the development of transactional and transformational leadership research, along with those who contributed the most to this development and advice for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]