An empirical study of the influence of individual-related factors on undergraduates' academic burnout: Malaysian context

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sook Cheng Lau ◽  
Hon Jie Chow ◽  
Siew Chin Wong ◽  
Chui Seong Lim

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between perfectionism, self-efficacy, coping strategies and academic burnout among Malaysian undergraduates in higher education institutions.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 251 respondents who were public and private university undergraduates. Partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to investigate the influences of coping strategies, perfectionism and self-efficacy on academic burnout among undergraduates.FindingsThe results showed that all independent variables, namely coping strategies, perfectionism and self-efficacy are statistically correlated to academic burnout.Research limitations/implicationsThis article provides an empirical framework for explaining the academic burnout of undergraduates’ based on the review of related career works of literature.Practical implicationsTo provide insights in order to improve understanding of existing stress models and provide practical implications for local higher education institutions and undergraduates to reduce academic burnout.Social implicationsThe study seeks to enhance awareness and destigmatise the mental health issues of undergraduates, which is important to help them to maintain a healthy lifestyle and well-being.Originality/valueThis paper offers new insight to identify the predictors of academic burnout among undergraduates from Malaysian higher education institutions.

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (12) ◽  
pp. 1411-1437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdur Rafik ◽  
Anjar Priyono

Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore and decompose a satisfaction model using alumni’s perspective for Islamic-based higher education institutions (IHEI) with the antecedent of perceived quality and value and the consequence of loyalty. Design/methodology/approach A study was used, using 44-item, a ten-point Likert-scale questionnaire administered to 360 alumni from various classes started from the 1970s till 2000s. Theoretical-based, national qualification framework of Indonesian higher education and management-based considerations were involved in developing a survey. Data were analyzed using partial least square-structural equation model and decomposed into strategic management map using importance-performance matrix analysis. Findings The most important determinants of alumni satisfaction and loyalty in IHEI is the IHEI’s ability to develop career capability through enriching knowledge. Moreover, the presence of good environment and Islamic value embodiment supporting learning programs on campus is the most significant trigger for the knowledge development. Research limitations/implications The results were generated from a specific department. Additional studies are needed to test if the results are not department (institution)-specific. Practical implications This study provides strategic directions for management to improve the critical aspects of the system by providing the inputs to the extent to which the service quality delivered may contribute to end-customers’ satisfaction. Originality/value It contributes to the literature on satisfaction and service quality issues by incorporating ideological aspect, by investigating the feasible model of customer satisfaction in the perspective of alumni for IHEI.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 975-991
Author(s):  
Edem Maxwell Azila-Gbettor ◽  
Eli Ayawo Atatsi ◽  
Christopher Mensah ◽  
Martin K. Abiemo

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships between self-esteem (SE), university commitment and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) within a higher education setup. Design/methodology/approach A convenience sample of 354 students in a three-year higher national diploma awarding technical university in Ghana participated in the study via the completion of self-administered questionnaires. Descriptive statistics and partial least square-based structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) were used to analyze data. Findings Path results using a PLS-SEM analysis showed a positive and significant association between SE and OCBs and university commitment among the students. Furthermore, OCBs were found to partially mediate the relationship between SE and university commitment. Practical implications The findings of the study provide important implication for management of higher education institutions. Management of higher education institutions must orient academic and non-academic staff to adopt communication strategies that help to improve students’ self-worth and assertiveness. All students should be encouraged to participate in extra-curricular activities in order to build students’ beliefs about themselves and self-confidence. Originality/value This paper is one of the first to have tested a model including SE, university commitment and OCBs in a technical university setup from a developing country perspective.


2015 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 429-447 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark P. Bowden ◽  
Subhash Abhayawansa ◽  
John Bahtsevanoglou

Purpose – There is evidence that students who attend Technical and Further Education (TAFE) prior to entering higher education underperform in their first year of study. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of self-efficacy in understanding the performance of students who completed TAFE in the previous year in a first year subject of microeconomics in a dual sector university in Melbourne, Australia. Design/methodology/approach – The study utilises data collected by surveys of 151 students. Findings – A student’s self-efficacy is positively associated with their marks in a first year subject of microeconomics. However, the relationship between final marks and self-efficacy is negative for those students who attended TAFE in the previous year suggesting that they suffer from the problem of overconfidence. When holding self-efficacy constant, using econometric techniques, TAFE attendance is found to be positively related to final marks. Research limitations/implications – The findings are exploratory (based on a small sample) and lead to a need to conduct cross institutional studies. Practical implications – The research points to the need for early interventions so that TAFE students perform well in their first year of higher education. It also points to potential issues in the development of Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) programs. Originality/value – To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to examine the inter-related impact of attendance at TAFE in the previous year and self-efficacy on the subsequent academic performance of TAFE students.


2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 555-570 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niall Corcoran ◽  
Aidan Duane

Purpose The management of organisational knowledge and the promotion of staff knowledge sharing are largely neglected in higher education institutions. The purpose of this study is to examine how enterprise social networks can enable staff knowledge sharing in communities of practice in that context. Design/methodology/approach The study is framed as an Action Research project, covering three cycles over a 12-month period. During the Diagnosing phase, a conceptual model was developed for empirical testing. Data were collected through 30 semi-structured interviews and a number of focus groups. This was supplemented by content analysis and reflective journaling. Findings The findings support the conceptual model and provide insight into the antecedents necessary for the creation of an enterprise social network-enabled knowledge-sharing environment, the motivators for and barriers to participation, and the perceived organisational and individual benefits of increased staff knowledge-sharing activity. Research limitations/implications As the study has a higher education focus, all of the findings may not be generalizable to other types of organisation. Further development of the conceptual model and testing in other contextual settings will yield greater generalizability. Practical implications A number of findings have practical implications for the management of higher education institutions, such as the evidence of a divide between faculty and other staff. In general, the study findings provide an opportunity for educationalists to better understand the scope and impact of employing social media platforms for knowledge sharing. Originality/value This paper adds to the growing body of work on organisational implementations of social media, and should be of interest to practitioners and researchers undertaking similar projects.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hassan Al-Dhaafri ◽  
Mohammed Saleh Alosani

Purpose The purpose of this study is to study the collective effect of leadership, strategic planning and entrepreneurial organizational culture (EOC) on organizational excellence. Design/methodology/approach Using primary data obtained through a survey questionnaire, hypotheses have been developed for testing. Out of a total of 565 questionnaires, only 355 questionnaires were returned where data were collected from the Dubai police organization. The structural equation modelling (SEM) approach was used to analyse the collected data. Findings Statistical findings using SEM-partial least square confirmed the full mediating role of strategic planning as a mechanism between leadership and organizational excellence. In addition, the results reported a significant effect of leadership on strategic planning besides its impact on organizational excellence. Practical implications Results reported many valuable implications. The outcomes of this study have practical implications that will help managers, decision-makers and practitioners to consider the study’s variables to enhance the overall performance through achieving excellence. Originality/value The collective role of leadership, strategic planning, EOC and organizational excellence is studied as one of the most important empirical studies which bring original contribution to the existing body of knowledge.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael T. Miller

Purpose This study was designed to address the problem of how higher education institutions, as organizations designed to promote learning, responded to the COVID pandemic and the suspension of in-person instruction. The purpose of this paper was specifically to explore how institutions go about learning from the pandemic to better prepare themselves for the future that they will face. Design/methodology/approach A researcher-developed survey instrument was distributed electronically to 300 faculty leaders at randomly selected universities in the USA. With three follow-up e-mail requests, the survey had a 31% usable response rate. Findings Survey results indicated that institutional leadership did not make strong use of shared governance in responding to the COVID pandemic in creating operational response strategies. Further, institutions did not alter their policies or make structural changes to be more adept in facing the challenges of a global pandemic and its impact on the financial well-being of the institutions. Although institutions did make changes to their attitudes about students, these were not developmental changes but rather behavioral modification expectations. Originality/value This study drew upon data collected after the first three months of the global COVID pandemic, providing an important first-look at organizational behavior in response to a largely unplanned global event.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Elíseo Fernandes Sanches ◽  
Matheus Leite Campos ◽  
Luiz Eduardo Gaio ◽  
Marcio Marcelo Belli

Purpose Higher education institutions (HEIs) should assume their role as leaders in the search for a sustainable future. Consequently, such institutions need to incorporate sustainability into their activities. However, this needs to be done holistically and not with isolated and independent actions. Therefore, this study aims to develop a structure of sustainability action archetypes to help HEIs holistically incorporate sustainability in their strategies. Design/methodology/approach A systematic review of the literature was conducted focusing on the subject of sustainability in HEIs. Findings A structure of sustainability action archetypes for HEIs was proposed. Further, based on scientific literature, examples of actions were presented within each archetype. Practical implications This study provides HEI administrators and other organizations with a practical structure to enable the systemic incorporation of sustainability objectives and actions into institutional activities. Originality/value This study adapts the tool “sustainable business model archetypes” for a new purpose. This tool was initially developed to classify innovations of sustainable business models.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 363-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neeraj Dhiman ◽  
Neelika Arora ◽  
Nikita Dogra ◽  
Anil Gupta

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of user adoption of smartphone fitness apps in context of an emerging economy. Design/methodology/approach The present study uses the extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2) as the base model along with two additional constructs, i.e. self-efficacy and personal innovativeness. The data collection was done through an online survey, wherein a total of 324 valid responses were obtained for the statistical analysis. All the hypothesized relationships were tested through partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) using an open source programming language and software environment, i.e. R Software along with plspm-package. Findings Significant predictors of smartphone fitness app adoption intention include effort expectancy, social influence, perceived value, habit and personal innovativeness. Further, this study confirms significant relationship between personal innovativeness and habit, self-efficacy and effort expectancy and effort expectancy and performance expectation. This study reveals that personal innovativeness is the strongest predictor of behavioural intention. Contrary to the expectations, factors like performance expectancy, facilitating conditions and hedonic motivation did not influence behavioural intention. Practical implications This study gives significant clues to app developers that can drastically influence the adoption of fitness apps. The findings suggest that marketers should focus on users with high personal innovativeness that can further act as role models and significantly influence their social circle. Interestingly, the findings suggest that fitness apps, as compared to other apps, should not emphasize much on the hedonic value of their offerings. Originality/value This study is one of the few studies to examine the adoption of smartphone fitness apps in an emerging economy context by using extended version of UTAUT2 model. Further, this study shows how new endogenous and exogenous variables (i.e. self-efficacy and personal innovativeness) contribute to better explanatory power of the UTAUT2 framework.


2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 653-669
Author(s):  
Andriy Kovalenko

Purpose The slogans adopted by higher-education institutions usually target all college stakeholders without differentiation, even though these stakeholders may have quite different connections to the organization. The purpose of this paper is to understand whether there is a relationship between students’ cultural backgrounds and their preferences for slogans of higher-education institutions. Design/methodology/approach The study utilized a survey for data collection. In total, 295 participants answered questions about preferences for slogans appealing to purchase or product involvement, and individualistic or collectivist values. Findings The results suggest that participants from both collectivist and individualistic societies prefer slogans that appeal to the values pertinent to their respective cultures. Representatives of both groups preferred slogans referring to the benefits of education over slogans describing features of particular institutions. Practical implications Slogans with messages appealing to people from collectivist and individualistic messages cultures should be included in promotional materials and distributed among corresponding audiences. Slogans for prospective students should refer to the advantages of studying in a particular institution, while current students should be targeted with slogans that encourage dedicated studying in general. Originality/value The findings contribute to the understanding of factors increasing effectiveness of higher-education slogans. It is also one of the first studies of how students from India (Punjab and Kerala states) and the Philippines process promotional materials from western educational institutions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deepika Pandoi ◽  
Sanjaya Singh Gaur ◽  
Anup Kumar Gupta

Purpose Plagiarism is an epidemic for scholars that needs to be managed. Penalties do not seem to be able to stop people from indulging in it. Manipulation of emotions and values may help in discouraging people from plagiarism. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to understand the association between felt emotion and plagiarism outcome behaviours. Another objective of the study is to see the role of virtues in discouraging people from plagiarism. Design/methodology/approach A scenario-based quasi-experimental method is used to collect the data. Graduate students from various Indian universities were invited for the experiment. The partial least square based structural equation modelling is used to test the measurement as well as path model. Findings The authors found that manipulated shame resulted in feelings of both international and external shame. When individuals feel internal shame, they avoid and discontinue plagiarism. They also try to repair the damage that they cause by plagiarism. However, feeling of external shame only encourages individuals to discontinue plagiarism behaviour. Virtues such as influence, competitiveness and equality weaken the relationship between internal shame and plagiarism-related outcome behaviour. At the same time, these virtues do not affect the relationship between external shame and outcome behaviours. Practical implications This study has important implications for the institutions of higher education. The study suggests that universities should provoke the emotion of shame through various communications to students to control the act of plagiarism by their students. Originality/value No study seems to have examined if the manipulation of emotions and values can help reduce the problem of plagiarism. This is an attempt towards bridging this important gap in literature. Therefore, findings of this study are of great value to scholars and content developers.


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