Construction and validation of the employability questionnaire for accounting graduates

2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nabil Ahmed Mareai Senan ◽  
M.M. Sulphey

PurposeGlobally, serious doubts are now expressed about the quality of accounting education, and employers are concerned about the lack of employability among graduates. There is a lack of a validated tool to measure employability in the Saudi Arabia context. Such a tool is required to assess the level of employability so that required corrective measures could be taken. The purpose of the study is to construct and validate a questionnaire to measure employability of accounting graduates.Design/methodology/approachThe data for the study was collected from various accounting professionals using a pool of 50 items from 420 randomly collected samples. The researchers used different statistical techniques, including exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, to construct and validate the 29 item questionnaire.FindingsBased on the purpose of the study, a questionnaire for measuring the employability of accounting graduates was constructed. The questionnaire developed and scientifically validated through various scientific techniques has 20 items under five factors. The questionnaire is ideal for measuring employability of accounting graduates.Originality/valueA fair review of the literature revealed a dearth of a validated tool to measure employability of accounting graduates. The study has constructed and validated a questionnaire to measure employability of accounting graduates, thereby bridging the gap in literature. This questionnaire, it is expected, would facilitate the conduct of further empirical examinations about employability of accounting graduates.

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 196-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Joana Gadotti dos Anjos ◽  
Jéssica Vieira de Souza Meira ◽  
Melise de Lima Pereira ◽  
Pablo Flôres Limberger

Purpose Some recent research studies in tourism have focused on the quality of the destination. The purpose of this paper is to identify and test the quality attributes of the destination of Jericoacoara, Brazil, in order to contribute to theoretical and empirical knowledge of the subject. Design/methodology/approach This study is exploratory and descriptive in nature, with a quantitative approach, and uses questionnaires administered to 391 tourists in Jericoacoara. Data were analyzed through exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. Findings Results showed that the most important factor in assessing the quality of the destination is service, followed by the factors accommodation, management, destination, and, lastly, attractions. Originality/value This study is a theoretical and empirical contribution to the debate on destiny quality and a management tool for strategic planning.


2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-80
Author(s):  
Peter Buell Hirsch

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to illuminate the challenges of ad hoc teams in the corporate setting. Design/methodology/approach Review of the literature about teams, agile methodologies, scrums, etc. was carried out. Findings While ad hoc teams can create value, their proliferation has had unintended consequences. Research limitations/implications The literature review is, by its nature, selective not comprehensive. Practical implications Based on the recommendations cited, corporations will be able to make better decisions about when to initiate special teams. Social implications By doing so, companies will eliminate the frustrations employees feel in certain types of teams and improve their quality of life. Originality/value Although the subject of ad hoc teams has been extensively covered, this viewpoint takes a fresh look at the overall consequences of their proliferation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 122 (11) ◽  
pp. 3331-3341
Author(s):  
Cristina Chinea ◽  
Ernesto Suárez ◽  
Bernardo Hernández

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to conceptually and empirically verify the meaning of the food construct, while adapting and validating the Meaning of Food in Life Questionnaire proposed by Arbit et al. (2017) into Spanish and comparing groups with specific and non-specific eating patterns in relation to the meaning of food.Design/methodology/approachConfirmatory factor analysis and multivariate analysis involving groups with specific and non-specific eating patterns.FindingsResults show that the adapted version of the scale retained the five food meaning factors, although four items from the original version had to be removed. Multivariate analyses of variance show that there are significant differences in the moral and sacred factors of food meaning when comparing people with specific and non-specific eating patterns. Significant differences in the moral, sacred and social factors were found when comparing between people with a specific diet, vegans/vegetarians and people who do not consume gluten/lactose or are on a diet.Research limitations/implicationsDifferences in the meanings attributed to food can be observed among the different ways people eat. This could have implications on ethics, sustainability and well-being by considering the characteristics of the five factors of food meaning.Originality/valueThis study suggests that food meaning is a complex and rational process, where eating patterns play a key role in the attribution of meaning.


2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 590-612 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte M. Karam ◽  
David A. Ralston

Purpose A large and growing number of researchers set out to cross-culturally examine empirical relationships. The purpose of this paper is to provide researchers, who are new to multicountry investigations, a discussion of the issues that one needs to address in order to be properly prepared to begin the cross-cultural analyses of relationships. Design/methodology/approach Thus, the authors consider two uniquely different but integrally connected challenges to getting ready to conduct the relevant analyses for just such multicountry studies. The first challenge is to collect the data. The second challenge is to prepare (clean) the collected data for analysis. Accordingly, the authors divide this paper into two parts to discuss the steps involved in both for multicountry studies. Findings The authors highlight the fact that in the process of collecting, there are a number of key issues that should be kept in mind including building trust with new team members, leading the team, and determining sufficient contribution of team members for authorship. Subsequently, the authors draw the reader’s attention to the equally important, but often-overlooked, data cleaning process and the steps that constitute it. This is important because failing to take serious the quality of the data can lead to violations of assumptions and mis-estimations of parameters and effects. Originality/value This paper provides a useful guide to assist researchers who are engaged in data collection and cleaning efforts with multiple country data sets. The review of the literature indicated how truly important a guideline of this nature is, given the expanding nature of cross-cultural investigations.


Author(s):  
Fernando Tavares ◽  
Eulália Santos ◽  
Ana Diogo ◽  
Vanessa Ratten

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to analyze the experiences experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic quarantine, based on an experimental marketing perspective and to validate a scale of experiences for the quarantine context.Design/methodology/approachThe life of a human being is a sum of the experiences that occur in their daily life, from experiences at home, to experiences at work, shopping, holidays and, essentially, with other human beings. However, experiences during the quarantine period became limited to experiences at home. For this, we used a questionnaire survey that analyzes the experiences experienced by individuals. The sample consists of 726 individuals who were in Portugal during the quarantine and confinement period.FindingsThe results show that the exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis produced a structure with four factors that the authors called Sense and Feel, Pandemic Feel, Pandemic Think and Act. The experiences are manifested with greater intensity in the factors Pandemic Think and Sense and Feel. The scale of experiences used showed to have convergent and discriminant validity and adequate internal consistency. It is expected that the present study will contribute to increase scientific knowledge in the behavioral area and in the area of positive psychology in the context of pandemic and confinement situations.Originality/valueThe results achieved become useful for health and marketing professionals, which allow them to define appropriate strategies to better serve the population in order to improve people's health, well-being and quality of life.


2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 377-390
Author(s):  
Payal Sharma ◽  
Jagwinder Singh Pandher

Purpose This study aims to identify and classify various competences and competencies that educational leaders should essentially possess. Design/methodology/approach The systematic review of the literature was conducted to identify various competences of educational leaders in the institutions. Later, an empirical research was conducted. The data were analyzed through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using AMOS 20.0 to classify these competences according to their relative importance considering natural gaps in standardized beta (ß) values. In all, 96 administrators of 35 technical institutions of Punjab (India) offering engineering and management programs and 93 veteran educational experts had responded in a survey. Findings The results of the study identified five competences: pedagogical, leadership, innovative, research and evaluation competences. The competencies “help others in improvement and not blame circumstances”, “set high benchmarks” and “align class activities with learning objectives” have qualified among the “most important” competencies for the educational leaders. Research limitations/implications The sample was specific to one state. There may be the chances of response bias in a few situations. Therefore, there are few reservations in generalizing the findings. Practical implications The study has several implications for both the faculty and the technical education degree institutes. The study provides a link between the characteristics and competencies of educational leaders. This study also contributes in terms of mapping of these competencies while recruitment of the faculty to test whether the candidates possess the potential of becoming educational leaders. Originality/value The administrators can test these competencies in their faculty for the purpose of identifying both the educational leaders within their institutes and the potential educational leaders in future by assessing “requisite” and “important” competencies.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
M.M. Sulphey ◽  
Ansa Salim

Purpose Social entrepreneurial orientation (SEO) is an evolving concept. Though adequate literature has been accumulated about the concept, there is a lack of appropriate tool to measure individual SEO. The tools presently available mostly measure organizational SEO. The purpose of this study is to develop and validate a tool to measure the concept of individual SEO. Design/methodology/approach Data for the study was collected using a questionnaire, from 342 randomly collected samples. Various time-tested methods and statistical techniques, including exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, were used to scientifically construct and validate the scale. Findings In tune with the purpose of this study, a 4-factor, 13-item SEO scale has been developed and scientifically validated through various acceptable and proven techniques. The developed tool is ideal to measure the orientation toward social entrepreneurship. Originality/value A review of literature revealed that there is paucity of a scientific tool to measure individual SEO. The study has succeeded in bridging this gap by constructing and validating a scale to measure SEO. This tool, it is expected, will help social scientists, academicians and researchers in conducting empirical examinations about SEO.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorgina Pereira ◽  
Vitor Braga ◽  
Aldina Correia ◽  
Aidin Salamzadeh

PurposeThis study aims to distinguish businesses by their degree of complexity and to analyse the influence of complexity on the performance of firms during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 468 businesses, and various multivariate statistical techniques were used. Initially a factor analysis was conducted, organising variables into five factors. A discriminant analysis, performed with the five factors, allowed discriminating firms based on whether they internationalise or not. A linear regression was performed in order to estimate the contribution of each factor in the business performance.FindingsThe results suggest the existence of additional variables for measuring the complexity. From the factorial analysis it is possible to conclude that business complexity can be explained by size, indebtedness and profitability, internationalisation, number of employees, and age and leverage. Total assets, indebtedness and age are the variables that contribute the most to business performance. On the other hand, indebtedness, internationalisation, age and leverage are the independent variables that most contribute to explain business performance.Originality/valueThis paper presents advances in two ways. First, it proposes measures of complexity (highly debatable in the literature). It also proposes internationalisation as an explanation of complexity. Second, this paper sheds light on businesses decisions to grow, taking into account how complexity may affect performance.


2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 1100-1131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee D. Parker ◽  
Deryl Northcott

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify and articulate concepts and approaches to qualitative generalisation that will offer qualitative accounting researchers avenues for enhancing and justifying the general applicability of their research findings and conclusions. Design/methodology/approach – The study and arguments draw from multidisciplinary approaches to this issue. The analysis and theorising is based on published qualitative research literatures from the fields of education, health sciences, sociology, information systems, management and marketing, as well as accounting. Findings – The paper develops two overarching generalisation concepts for application by qualitative accounting researchers. These are built upon a number of qualitative generalisation concepts that have emerged in the multidisciplinary literatures. It also articulates strategies for enhancing the generalisability of qualitative accounting research findings. Research limitations/implications – The paper provides qualitative accounting researchers with understandings, arguments and justifications for the generalisability of their research and the related potential for wider accounting and societal contributions. It also articulates the key factors that impact on the quality of research generalisation that qualitative researchers can offer. Originality/value – This paper presents the most comprehensively sourced and developed approach to the concepts, strategies and unique deliverables of qualitative generalising hitherto available in the accounting research literature.


2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 58-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianxin Zhang ◽  
Jagannath Patil

Purpose After the “quantity era,” today higher education has entered into the “quality era” and as “the gate keepers of quality,” quality assurance agencies (QAAs) are playing more and more irreplaceable important roles and their social status are becoming more and more prominent. However, how to guarantee the quality of the QAAs? Who can review the QAAs? The purpose of this paper is based exploration of these questions. Design/methodology/approach Following the founding of the European Quality Assurance Register (EQAR) for Higher Education, the Asia Pacific Quality Register (APQR) became the second in the international quality assurance (QA) networks to implement QA register, in 2015 with initiative of Asia-Pacific Quality Network. Findings This paper first retrospects the history and process of APQR, and subsequently the implementation of APQR is described in detail from the two aspects of the criteria and the procedure, and at the end, the paper concludes with a summary of the three characteristics of this first formal implement of APQR: APQR is an international register open to all the QAAs; APQR emphasizes characteristics evaluation of diversity; and APQR highlights the combination of quantitative assessment and qualitative assessment. Originality/value Today on the international stage of QA, APQR has emerged as “the watchman of quality” in the Asia-Pacific region as counterpart of EQAR in Europe. How far away does such newly emerging form of guaranteeing the QAAs’ quality go forward, what is its future prospects and other concerning issues, are some of the question that need enthusiastic attention and contribution.


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