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Despite the construction industry's detrimental effects on environmental sustainability, the concept of green procurement (GP) is still relatively new in the developing world. The barriers hindering GP adoption need detailed investigation as studies in the context of developing countries are still limited and the underlying dimensions remain a known-unknown. This study appraised the critical barriers to GP adoption in the Malaysian construction industry. Twenty (20) barriers were identified from the detailed literature review and a field survey was conducted with 150 professionals. The ranking analysis results indicated the top five barriers are: high initial cost; lack of expertise and regulations; lack of government regulations; lack of top management commitment and lack of awareness among construction stakeholders. A factor analysis further identified five major underlying dimensions. The study showed that both government and organisational commitments are crucial in promoting GP adoption. This study adds to incremental knowledge in GP literature by analysing the critical barriers and the associated underlying dimensions to GP adoption in a developing country, which could help practitioners and policymakers in evaluating the organisation's or industry's readiness to adopt GP practices along with devising apt measures to mitigate the barriers to shift to sustainable and environmentally friendly construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the construction industry’s detrimental effects on environmental sustainability, the concept of green procurement (GP) is still relatively new in the developing world. The barriers hindering GP adoption need detailed investigation as studies in the context of developing countries are still limited and the underlying dimensions remain a known-unknown. This study appraised the critical barriers to GP adoption in the Malaysian construction industry. Twenty (20) barriers were identified from the detailed literature review and a field survey was conducted with 150 professionals. The ranking analysis results indicated the top five barriers are: high initial cost; lack of expertise and regulations; lack of government regulations; lack of top management commitment and lack of awareness among construction stakeholders. A factor analysis further identified five major underlying dimensions. The study showed that both government and organisational commitments are crucial in promoting GP adoption. This study adds to incremental knowledge in GP literature by analysing the critical barriers and the associated underlying dimensions to GP adoption in a developing country, which could help practitioners and policymakers in evaluating the organisation’s or industry’s readiness to adopt GP practices along with devising apt measures to mitigate the barriers to shift to sustainable and environmentally friendly construction.

Lifelong learning has become imperative in today’s rapidly changing world, where people must constantly improve their knowledge and skills to contribute to life and work fully. Since the success of an organization in a knowledge-based economy is highly dependent on competent and committed employees, their professional development should be encouraged and supported at all levels. Managers need to participate in lifelong learning activities. Considering that the willingness to learn is an essential prerequisite for learner engagement and success, this study investigated managers’ motivation for lifelong learning. An online survey was conducted among Croatian managers to answer the research questions. They generally rated their motivation to participate in lifelong learning as very high. According to the results, the studied groups of managers were quite similar in their self-reported motivation levels, except for educational background. The study also found several important motivators for lifelong learning, such as increasing knowledge and skills, improving job performance, and satisfying the need to stay current. Some other potential motivators were not considered important, including gaining social recognition and job insecurity. An exploratory factor analysis revealed three underlying dimensions of motivation: job satisfaction and compensation, competence development, and recognition and respect. In addition, some significant group differences in the factors were found. Given the limited literature on this topic, this study contributes to a better understanding managers’ motivation for lifelong learning.

Highlights • PTSD is highly comorbid with other disorders. • Anger explains a significant amount of the variance in PTSD at both the item and factor level. • Anger is a stronger component of PTSD above and beyond the symptom criteria. Abstract In this study, we examined the underlying role of anger in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Although anger is currently considered within two symptoms of PTSD (i.e., anger/irritability; and negative emotional state), some research has found that anger is more than just a diagnostic symptom of PTSD. The sample consisted of 375 trauma-exposed individuals that completed the PTSD Checklist-5 and Dimensions of Anger Reactions Scale. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess PTSD's factor structure based on the four-factor DSM-5 PTSD model. Subsequently, the model was re-tested, statistically controlling for anger by regressing PTSD's items on an observed anger score. Individual factor loading differences were then compared to determine anger's underlying role. Results indicated that a significant amount of variance in PTSD, at both the item level and factor level, was attributable to an underlying dimension of anger. The largest factor attenuation was for the symptom of irritability/anger and the smallest attenuation was recklessness. The results suggest that anger underlies more of PTSD than the two diagnostic symptom criteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study attempts at determining the inherent components of the validated Self-Efficacy Scale for English Language Learners' Textbooks (SES-ELLT) (Hamedi, Pishghadam, & Ghazanfari, 2013). To this end, 290 language learners from several language institutes of Mashhad (Iran) engaged in the study to examine the underlying dimensions of the scale. Participants were asked to reflect on the importance of the 33 items for the English language textbooks. Afterwards, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was administered to substantiate the construct validity of the scale. Two tests were employed to measure the factorability of the inter-correlation matrix: Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test of Sampling Adequacy (KMO) and Bartlett's test of Sphericity. The results of the two tests demonstrated the appropriateness of the factor model. Finally, the scale revealed five major factors, accounting for 39.94% of the total variance to be used by textbook designers and material developers as a set of empirically based self-efficacy inducing factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- This study aims to identify the dimensions of business student satisfaction in the Malaysian private higher educational environment and evaluate the influence that demographic factors have on satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach -- A questionnaire was developed and distributed to 1,200 undergraduate business students at four private higher educational (PHE) institutions in Malaysia. Exploratory factor analysis was used to identify the underlying dimensions that drive student satisfaction. ANOVA and t-tests were conducted to evaluate the influence that demographic factors have on the results. Findings -- Factor analysis resulted in the adoption of a 12-factor solution from an original set of 53 satisfaction items. The results also indicated the influence of demographic factors on the level of business student satisfaction. Originality/value -- This study identified 12 factors or the underlying dimensions that drive business student satisfaction in the Malaysian PHE. The 12 factors are: professional comfortable environment; student assessments and learning experiences; classroom environment; lecture and tutorial facilitating goods; textbook and tuition fees; student support facilities; business procedures; relationship with teaching staff; knowledgeable and responsive faculty; staff helpfulness; feedback; and class sizes. Understanding these factors could help educational institutions to better plan their strategies and inform academics interested in studying student satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After so many years, the Malaysian mobile service market is getting saturated, whereby service operators are having difficulties differentiating themselves because they offer similar services. As the service options are wide, customers become less committed to a particular provider and might easily shift from one operator to another. This situation forces the service providers to create a strategy that focuses more on gaining and retaining long-term relationships with their customers. Therefore, the objective of this study is to determine the underlying dimensions of relationship marketing in the Malaysian mobile service sector. A sample of 300 customers in Klang Valley was drawn using scientific procedures of mall intercept, and structural equation modeling was utilized in testing the proposed model. The results show that the relationships between the exogenous latent factors and the overall endogenous factor are significant, ranging from.77 to.94. This illustrates that a relatively high proportion of the variance in relationship marketing is well explained by each of the factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper a new approach for transit congestion relief measurement in urban areas is described. The paper reviews relevant transport data sources and describes how a comparable international transport database has been selected for this study. The elements affecting the congestion relief impact of public transport in global cities are explored. Factor analysis is used to identify the underlying dimensions of the measured elements from the readily available urban and transport data for a broad international spectrum of cities. The multivariate data analysis manifests three major dimensions of factors affecting congestion relief: (1) transit-oriented factor, (2) car-deterrence factor, and (3) urban-form factor. Finally, by using linear regression analysis, this paper has determined how these three dimensions are related to the congestion relief value of transit. The results of the regression analysis show that all three dimensions positively influence transit congestion relief. Car-deterrence factor has the strongest influence on transit congestion relief, followed by transit-oriented factor and urban-form factor. In addition, the regression model provides a quantitative link between city variables, transport characteristics and transit congestion relief without using comprehensive transport modelling approach. This quantitative link can provide insight to our understanding of the strength of these dimensions to transit congestion relief for urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oddi's 24-item Continuing Learning Inventory (OCLI) is an instrument that has been used frequently to measure self-directed learning. Although three previous studies have assessed OCLl's underlying dimensions, the conflicting results of those studies prompted this further investigation that used a series of factor analyses of the 250 responses from University of Toronto undergraduate medical students. Although exploratory factor analyses yielded results consistent with Oddi's empirically derived three-factor model, further analyses of the student responses suggested that OCLl's underlying dimensions are better described by four factors. This four-factor model was also identified through confirmatory factor analyses. These four underlying OCLl dimensions—Learning With Others, Learner Motivation/Self-efficacy/Autonomy, Ability to be Self-Regulating, and Reading Avidity—provide further specificity and insights for examining and better understanding students' self-directed learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]