Intrinsic Workforce Diversity and Construction Worker Productivity in Pakistan: Impact of Employee Age and Industry Experience

Worker productivity is critical within construction projects as it is the measure of the rate at which work is performed and, more importantly, helps to know how to motivate them to perform at high levels. This research aimed to examine the impact of employee age and industry experience on the intrinsic workforce diversity factors influencing construction worker productivity. Sieving through the previous research and models and theories of analysis, the intrinsic workforce diversity was modeled into the following set of factors, i.e., income, motivation, psychosocial factors, and technical skills. The data were collected by means of a questionnaire survey and examined for the employees having different ages and experiences using the Mann–Whitney U test through SPSS. The results show that employees of varied ages do not concur over motivation-, psychosocial, and technical skills-related workforce diversity factors, whereas employees of varied industrial experiences are in disagreement over some income and motivation related workforce diversity factors. In order to overcome intrinsic workforce diversity, firm support is direly needed for old and mature employees in terms of financial incentives leading to motivation, less supervised scheduling, opportunities for firm advancement, and reporting back every time work is completed. Furthermore, support is required for young employees who are more susceptible due to psychosocial stresses like unevenly distributed work, communication gaps, and technical skills like knowledge of technological equipment and advancement in construction technology which has reduced the skills of workers.

The Role of Biosecurity in the Control of Campylobacter: A Qualitative Study of the Attitudes and Perceptions of UK Broiler Farm Workers

Campylobacter is the leading cause of human bacterial diarrhoeal disease worldwide, with poultry meat products contributing to a large proportion of cases. Due to the ubiquitous presence of Campylobacter in the poultry farm environment, biosecurity is the main area for intervention to prevent colonisation of commercial broiler chicken flocks. However, research has repeatedly demonstrated that farmers' uptake of biosecurity recommendations is often poor. This study explored farmers' attitudes towards biosecurity and identified barriers to effective implementation of biosecurity protocols. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 1–3 members of staff on each of 16 broiler farms; 6 owned by, and 10 contracted to, 3 different UK poultry integrators. In total, 28 interviewees participated, including farm owners, managers, and workers, with a range of industry experience. Thematic analysis of the interviews revealed high levels of recognition amongst broiler farmers of the importance of Campylobacter and the responsibility of the whole farm-to-fork chain within the poultry industry to reduce Campylobacter contamination of chicken meat for the benefit of public health. Participants' self-reported awareness and implementation of biosecurity has improved significantly following the industry-wide focus on Campylobacter control. However, there are frustrations with the industry's approach to tackling Campylobacter and the heavy burden of responsibility that has been put on interventions at the farm-level. There was also scepticism amongst participants as to the effectiveness of current biosecurity measures in the reduction of Campylobacter. Nevertheless, the interviewees' recognition of the benefit of improved biosecurity on broiler health and welfare and other important targets, such as reducing antimicrobial usage, leaves a legacy of which the UK broiler industry can be proud. There is scope for further farmer education about the evidence supporting biosecurity interventions, particularly in the control of Campylobacter, and a need to establish more effective channels of communication. Furthermore, to give all players within the industry agency and investment in industry targets, contributions from all levels should be permitted in the design of future biosecurity interventions. Biosecurity compliance may be improved through collaborative efforts, such as participatory and co-design practises, to facilitate knowledge co-creation and exchange.

Marketing Education: Reflecting on Relevance

Marketing is one of the fastest-growing employment areas within commerce. Most of the growth lies in the role of digital technologies and in promoting sustainability rather than consumerism. However, students with mostly theoretical knowledge, even if in these areas, may not necessarily satisfy this demand, nor will students armed with strategic knowledge that is not required in entry-level jobs. There is increased demand from the marketing industry for job-ready graduates with both technical and multidisciplinary soft skills. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to reflect on the relevance of marketing education in universities in Australia, New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific region. At the beginning of this new decade and following a global health pandemic that has severely impacted the university sector, the time is right for such a reflection. Specifically, we reflect on how we teach and what we teach. Under how we teach, we consider two main issues: online learning and the role of industry certifications. Under what we teach, we consider three main issues: content relevance, soft skills and industry experience. We conclude with key questions for individual educators and marketing departments, and we provide some recommendations as to how, collectively, we can deal with the question we pose.

Sustainable development: a developmental evaluation of logistics higher education in the Sultanate of Oman based on two innovation approaches (the triple helix of innovation and innovation competencies)

PurposeThis research seeks to identify evidence of innovation elements in the implementation of a sustainable development ecosystem in the HE environment. For the purposes of this investigation, the use of developmental evaluation has been deemed appropriate to fully explore the depths of the topic.Design/methodology/approachThe research follows a qualitative approach of inductive reasoning. For the purpose of this developmental evaluation, the collection of information from several stakeholders has been pursued in the study. Both a semi-structured interview and documents analysis were used.FindingsDifferent awareness levels among logistics faculty members, while the incentives given are minimal. Availability of grants and lack of tenure are some of the reasons raised. Industry is not cooperative in providing placements/internships restricting students of industry experience. Internationalisation is slow and international collaborations limited. Limited freedom in topical discussions and their implications to learning.Research limitations/implicationsThe research has considered possible limitations and used other methods for triangulation of the findings.Practical implicationsLow awareness on the implementation of pedagogical approaches for innovation. Not all faculty can be innovative (owing to current practice) neither they are incentivised to be so. Government spending is very low on R&D – 0.136 of the GDP in 2016. The industry is not ready for University-Business Collaborations, therefore achieving a low theory to practice ratio for students.Originality/valueIn the context in which the research has taken place (HE in Oman), there has been no evaluation (and more so developmental evaluation) previously implemented. Additionally, a longitudinal study, integrated as part of an ESD system targeted to innovation could increase the innovation capacity of the country on the international innovation index.

What Success Means to Professional Dancers

<p>Being successful as a dance professional does not generally happen by accident. Occasionally all the components of success fall into place serendipitously, but success is usually achieved by people who know what success means for themselves, people who have developed the vision and personal qualities required to achieve this. Success is a mental attitude, a mind-set, and the quality of this mental attitude allows people to make the most of their other training and skills. As with many graduates of the arts, students completing tertiary performing arts dance degrees do not have a clearly defined career path mapped out for them, in the way that say lawyers and engineers have. Compounding this situation is that there are many more dance graduates than existing professional dance opportunities. These graduates have to create their own professional futures if they are to succeed in a challenging and highly competitive environment, the dance industry. This research was directed by the questions: what is success for established professional contemporary and cultural dancers in New Zealand; how do they perceive success; and what personal qualities do successful dance professionals possess, apart from talent, that contribute to them being successful? Nine dance professionals, with extensive industry experience, participated in this phenomenological study. The interviews were transcribed and analysed using themes emerging from the data. A clear picture emerged of how these dance professionals view success, and the important role that strong self-awareness plays in achieving this. The study revealed a common set of personal qualities that appear to contribute to being successful. The dance professionals interviewed for this study know who they are, what they want, and where they want to go. They are very focused people, not compromising in their vision and drive. They are principled and connected to their beliefs and values. Their success is supported by the multiple facets of discipline they have developed - they had worked hard to get to where they are now. By understanding the qualities successful dance professionals possess, dance professional practice courses can be informed and illustrated by the findings of this study, and an approach can be developed that acknowledges the importance of the awareness of success in educative processes, and in the student’s professional development path.</p>

What Success Means to Professional Dancers

<p>Being successful as a dance professional does not generally happen by accident. Occasionally all the components of success fall into place serendipitously, but success is usually achieved by people who know what success means for themselves, people who have developed the vision and personal qualities required to achieve this. Success is a mental attitude, a mind-set, and the quality of this mental attitude allows people to make the most of their other training and skills. As with many graduates of the arts, students completing tertiary performing arts dance degrees do not have a clearly defined career path mapped out for them, in the way that say lawyers and engineers have. Compounding this situation is that there are many more dance graduates than existing professional dance opportunities. These graduates have to create their own professional futures if they are to succeed in a challenging and highly competitive environment, the dance industry. This research was directed by the questions: what is success for established professional contemporary and cultural dancers in New Zealand; how do they perceive success; and what personal qualities do successful dance professionals possess, apart from talent, that contribute to them being successful? Nine dance professionals, with extensive industry experience, participated in this phenomenological study. The interviews were transcribed and analysed using themes emerging from the data. A clear picture emerged of how these dance professionals view success, and the important role that strong self-awareness plays in achieving this. The study revealed a common set of personal qualities that appear to contribute to being successful. The dance professionals interviewed for this study know who they are, what they want, and where they want to go. They are very focused people, not compromising in their vision and drive. They are principled and connected to their beliefs and values. Their success is supported by the multiple facets of discipline they have developed - they had worked hard to get to where they are now. By understanding the qualities successful dance professionals possess, dance professional practice courses can be informed and illustrated by the findings of this study, and an approach can be developed that acknowledges the importance of the awareness of success in educative processes, and in the student’s professional development path.</p>

An Analysis of Ownership Forms in Offshore Higher Education Markets: A Resource Based Perspective

<p>This PhD research seeks to consider overseas investment in a new and important context: education. Estimated at approximately US$ 65 billion and representing roughly 3% of global services exports (Alderman, 2001), trade in education services is fast becoming a global business (Czinkota, 2006). In Australia, New Zealand and the United States, for example, educational service is estimated to be, respectively, the third, fourth and fifth largest service sector export (Vincent-Lancrin, 2004). The globalisation and internationalisation of higher education manifest themselves in various forms, of which transnational education or 'offshore' programmes - those taught outside of a host academic institution's country of origin - have been experiencing rapid increases over the past decade. Most of this growth, to date, has taken place through contractual arrangements such as licensing (e.g. twinning and articulation arrangements). However, there are also a substantial number of academic institutions that are currently delivering transnational education through equity modes of entry (e.g. branch campus operations). In this context, this PhD research, using universities as the unit of analysis, seeks to understand the dynamics of transnational education - how it is happening and why it is happening - grounded in the strategy and international business literatures. In particular, the research question being addressed in this study is: What resources are associated with entry mode choice for education providers entering overseas markets? Using a multi-method research design consisting of both qualitative and quantitative analysis, seven different types of resources are specifically examined in this study: Geographical experience, Industry experience, Transfer experience, Organisational culture, Financial resources, Reputation and Learning intent. Using the resource-based view (RBV) as its theoretical underpinning, this study hypothesises that the more access to these resources an education service provider might have, the more they will favour a higher level of ownership in offshore education developments. This overall hypothesis builds on the basic assumption of the RBV that organisations in possession of resources which are potential sources of competitive advantage in a target market, would favour a mode of entry that facilitates control over and protection of the resources. This fundamental assumption of the RBV differs to that of the transaction cost approach, which typically views shared-control modes as the default mode of entry. The conceptual model developed in this study further postulates that the resource-entry mode relationship is moderated by institutional distance. The education sector in most countries is a regulated sector, where authorities monitor the quality of education. Therefore, when investing offshore, education service providers are likely to operate around some form of regulated institutional environments that are likely to affect their mode of entry decisions. From the collected 308 instances of foreign market entry of universities in the United Kingdom (UK), United States (US), Canada (CA), Australia (AU), New Zealand (NZ) and Ireland (IR), analysis is conducted at both an aggregate and geographical grouping level (i.e. UK/IR, AU/NZ and US/CA). To assess the sensitivity of the obtained results, three estimation techniques are also analysed: Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), Tobit and Negative Binomial regressions. To further assess the sensitivity and robustness of the observed findings for the moderating role of institutional distance, three measures of distance are analysed: World Competitiveness Yearbook, Economic Freedom Index and Hofstede (1980) cultural indices. From the different groupings and estimation techniques, the empirical findings show that support is obtained for Transfer experience, but only when using OLS estimation. Mixed support is obtained for Geographical experience, Industry experience and Financial resources. The hypotheses with respect to the other types of resources are not supported. These findings suggest that, contrary to the basic premise of the RBV, a higher level of ownership might not always be the preferred entry mode in the offshore education context. The observed findings also do not support the moderating hypothesis of institutional distance on the resource-entry mode relationship. This lack of support is consistent across all three measures of distance analysed. Several possible explanations for these observed findings are conjectured in Chapter 7. These explanations are not purely theoretical conjectures but are also enriched on the basis of the interviews conducted as part of the exploratory stage of this study. The greatest takeaway from this study is that the observed findings, which do not fully conform to mainstream international business and strategic management theories, can be attributed to context/industry specific conditions. Traditional international business and strategy research has largely focused on "for-profit" firms. Given that universities are "not-for-profit" organisations, it needs to be recognised that their international operations are different from those of regular multinational firms. These findings provide initial steps in improving our understanding of the internationalisation of the education services sector.</p>

An Analysis of Ownership Forms in Offshore Higher Education Markets: A Resource Based Perspective

<p>This PhD research seeks to consider overseas investment in a new and important context: education. Estimated at approximately US$ 65 billion and representing roughly 3% of global services exports (Alderman, 2001), trade in education services is fast becoming a global business (Czinkota, 2006). In Australia, New Zealand and the United States, for example, educational service is estimated to be, respectively, the third, fourth and fifth largest service sector export (Vincent-Lancrin, 2004). The globalisation and internationalisation of higher education manifest themselves in various forms, of which transnational education or 'offshore' programmes - those taught outside of a host academic institution's country of origin - have been experiencing rapid increases over the past decade. Most of this growth, to date, has taken place through contractual arrangements such as licensing (e.g. twinning and articulation arrangements). However, there are also a substantial number of academic institutions that are currently delivering transnational education through equity modes of entry (e.g. branch campus operations). In this context, this PhD research, using universities as the unit of analysis, seeks to understand the dynamics of transnational education - how it is happening and why it is happening - grounded in the strategy and international business literatures. In particular, the research question being addressed in this study is: What resources are associated with entry mode choice for education providers entering overseas markets? Using a multi-method research design consisting of both qualitative and quantitative analysis, seven different types of resources are specifically examined in this study: Geographical experience, Industry experience, Transfer experience, Organisational culture, Financial resources, Reputation and Learning intent. Using the resource-based view (RBV) as its theoretical underpinning, this study hypothesises that the more access to these resources an education service provider might have, the more they will favour a higher level of ownership in offshore education developments. This overall hypothesis builds on the basic assumption of the RBV that organisations in possession of resources which are potential sources of competitive advantage in a target market, would favour a mode of entry that facilitates control over and protection of the resources. This fundamental assumption of the RBV differs to that of the transaction cost approach, which typically views shared-control modes as the default mode of entry. The conceptual model developed in this study further postulates that the resource-entry mode relationship is moderated by institutional distance. The education sector in most countries is a regulated sector, where authorities monitor the quality of education. Therefore, when investing offshore, education service providers are likely to operate around some form of regulated institutional environments that are likely to affect their mode of entry decisions. From the collected 308 instances of foreign market entry of universities in the United Kingdom (UK), United States (US), Canada (CA), Australia (AU), New Zealand (NZ) and Ireland (IR), analysis is conducted at both an aggregate and geographical grouping level (i.e. UK/IR, AU/NZ and US/CA). To assess the sensitivity of the obtained results, three estimation techniques are also analysed: Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), Tobit and Negative Binomial regressions. To further assess the sensitivity and robustness of the observed findings for the moderating role of institutional distance, three measures of distance are analysed: World Competitiveness Yearbook, Economic Freedom Index and Hofstede (1980) cultural indices. From the different groupings and estimation techniques, the empirical findings show that support is obtained for Transfer experience, but only when using OLS estimation. Mixed support is obtained for Geographical experience, Industry experience and Financial resources. The hypotheses with respect to the other types of resources are not supported. These findings suggest that, contrary to the basic premise of the RBV, a higher level of ownership might not always be the preferred entry mode in the offshore education context. The observed findings also do not support the moderating hypothesis of institutional distance on the resource-entry mode relationship. This lack of support is consistent across all three measures of distance analysed. Several possible explanations for these observed findings are conjectured in Chapter 7. These explanations are not purely theoretical conjectures but are also enriched on the basis of the interviews conducted as part of the exploratory stage of this study. The greatest takeaway from this study is that the observed findings, which do not fully conform to mainstream international business and strategic management theories, can be attributed to context/industry specific conditions. Traditional international business and strategy research has largely focused on "for-profit" firms. Given that universities are "not-for-profit" organisations, it needs to be recognised that their international operations are different from those of regular multinational firms. These findings provide initial steps in improving our understanding of the internationalisation of the education services sector.</p>