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  • ItemUnknown
    Navigating the Boundaries between Technology and Social Change – Evaluating Acceptance of Visible Tattoos in the Workplace: The French Exception?
    (Taylor and Francis, 2024-03-14) Lichy, Jessica; Dutot, Vincent; Stokes, Peter
    This paper examines how tattoos are challenging and renegotiating social norms in the French workplace – from hiring to everyday work life – and the role of social media technology. The workplace reflects the complex interplay of relational and social processes that form societal attitudes. France remains a highly conservative and centralised national context traditionally resistant, due to its republican values, to external markers of identity such as, for example religious artefacts. The motivation for the present paper is exploration of how the nuanced interplay between technology, social factors and organizational attitudes, impact on the gradually changing perceptions and acceptance of visible tattoos in Gallic work contexts. Using theories of socio-technical systems and identity-driven consumption framed by the postmodern concepts of liminality and communitas, we employ a mixed-methods approach to examine tattoo consumption and acceptance across a range of workplaces in France. Findings suggest that social norms, interacting with social media peer pressure, continue to push cultural boundaries, with online consumer behaviour frequently shaping offline consumer behaviour and employee/employer attitudes. These processes are often informed by the pursuit of ‘self’ and reflect several ‘tribalistic’ aspects of society. Through analysis, we articulate and contribute six interpretations of how tattooing is partially accepted by recruiters in the workplace in France. We also contribute to the understanding of liminality and communitas as applied to socio-technical spaces. Overall, we reveal insights that can inform researchers, managers, and practitioners in anticipating future changes and preparing for the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead.
  • ItemUnknown
    Creative Learning for Entrepreneurship
    (Octaedro, 2024-03) Rae, David; Frank, R.; Hoare, M.
    This book was created as a learning resource which enables readers to develop their understanding and skills in creativity and entrepreneurship. It is written for anyone interested in creativity, entrepreneurship, education and learning, and in how these topics interconnect. It can be used by individual readers, students, educators, researchers, and people working in enterprise and small business support. In education, it is intended mainly for use at advanced and higher education levels. The book was created as part of the European Erasmus project, ‘Beyond the Limits – Developing Entrepreneurship via Creativity’ which ran from 2020 to 2023. The 18 chapters were written by leaders, authorities and innovators in creativity, entrepreneurship and learning. The book is organised in four themes, each of which comprises four or five chapters. All the chapters can be read and used freely and separately as educational and teaching resources. 1. Creative entrepreneurship and human development 2. Pedagogies for creative learning and education 3. Pedagogies for entrepreneurial learning and education 4. Social, community, and collective learning for creativity and enterprise
  • ItemUnknown
    A Review of and Future Research Agenda on Women Entrepreneurship in Africa
    (Emerald, 2024-03-07) Woldesenbet Beta, Kassa; Mwila, Natasha Katuta; Ogunmokun, Olapeju
    Purpose: This paper seeks to systematically review and synthesise existing research knowledge on African women entrepreneurship to identify gaps for future studies. Methodology/research design/approach: The paper conducted a systematic literature review of published studies from 1990-2020 on women entrepreneurship in Africa using a 5M gender aware framework of Brush, de Bruin and Welter (2009). Findings: The systematic literature review of published studies found the fragmentation, descriptive and prescriptive orientation of studies on Africa women entrepreneurship and devoid of theoretical focus. Further, women entrepreneurship studies tended to be underpinned from various disciplines, less from the entrepreneurship lens, mostly quantitative, and at its infancy stage of development. With a primary focus on development, enterprise performance, and livelihood, studies rarely attended to issues of motherhood and the nuanced understanding of women entrepreneurship’s embeddedness in family and institutional contexts of Africa. Originality: The paper contributes to a holistic understanding of women entrepreneurship in Africa by using a 5M framework to review the research knowledge. In addition, the paper not only identifies unexplored/ or less examined issues but also questions the taken-for-granted assumptions of existing knowledge and suggest adoption of context- and gender-sensitive theories and methods. Research limitations/implications: The paper questions the view that women entrepreneurship is a ‘panacea’ and unravels how family context, customary practices, poverty and, rural-urban and formal/informal divide, significantly shape and interact with African women entrepreneurs’ enterprising experience and firm performance.
  • ItemUnknown
    Access to Debt Finance in Sub-Saharan Africa: Redefining the Problem from Risk Perspective and Way Forward
    (Sage, 2024-03-01) Ogunmokun, Olapeju C.; Mafimisebi, Oluwasoye P.; Obembe, Demola
    This paper presents critical points of view relating to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) access to debt finance in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Prevailing view suggests that lack of credit information is a fundamental factor that contributes to the constraints faced by SMEs. We challenge this prevailing dominant view and argues that SMEs are constraints in accessing debt finance due to bank’s risk assessment strategies. At the same time, suggest that banks modelling credit risk assessment for SMEs in SSA became extremely crucial for determining access to debt finance. This impacts on access to debt finance contrary to popular claim that the opaque nature of SMEs is the major constraint limiting access to debt finance. In such challenging context, SMEs are expected to either provide more information to banks to reduce the problem of information asymmetry as well as provide collateral and guarantees in the absence of reliable information to safeguard against risk of default or maintain a long-term relationship with banks which is expected to result in an increase in debt financing. The authors emphasize the need to redefine the problem of access to debt finance, so that financing obstacles for SMEs can be strengthen. The implications and alternative strategies for SMEs access to debt finance are discussed.
  • ItemMetadata only
    Decent Work, Informality and Pandemic: Empirical Insights from Ghana
    (Brill, 2024-07-25) Anlesinya, Alex; Nyanyofio, Gerald Joseph Nii Tetteh
    The informal economy has consistently been celebrated for its contributions to global employment and development. However, its workers are faced with decent work problems which tend to get worse in times of adversity due to their insufficient buffers against personal and global shocks like the Covid-19 pandemic. While empirical knowledge could be helpful in understanding and addressing decent work challenges among informal workers amidst the pandemic, empirical research in this area is limited. Hence, we empirically assessed informal workers’ decent work experience during the Covid-19 pandemic by integrating differing theoretical perspectives, and using two focus group discussions involving twenty (20) Ghanaian informal workers. The results show that informal workers’ perception of decent work is driven by adequate income and survival; fulfilling and meaningful work; autonomy and control; social recognition and mobility; and health, safety and wellbeing. It further reveals that the pandemic has depleted the features of work that are most valuable to informal workers, leading to low decent work experience. These findings therefore call for the enrichment of informal work with key instrumental (economic) and intrinsic (psycho-social) attributes to improve informal workers’ decent work experience. Consequently, this research advances the limited informal decent work scholarship generally and specifically amidst a global pandemic, and further fills empirical voids on informal decent work in Ghana.
  • ItemMetadata only
    Technology and the Conduct of Bibliometric Literature Reviews in Management: The Software Tools, Benefits, and Challenges
    (Emerald, 2023-11-24) Anlesinya, Alex; Dadzie, Samuel Ato
    The use of structured literature review methods like bibliometric analysis is growing in the management fields, but there is limited knowledge on how they can be facilitated by technology. Hence, we conducted a broad overview of software tools, their roles, and limitations in structured (bibliometric) literature reviewing activities. Subsequently, we show that several software tools are freely available to aid in searching the literature, identifying/ extracting relevant publications, screening/assessing quality of the extracted data, and performing analyses to generate insights from the literature. However, their applications may be confronted with several challenges such as limited analytical and functional capabilities, inadequate technological skills of researchers, and the fact that the researcher's insights are still needed to generate compelling conclusions from the results produced by software tools. Consequently, we contribute toward advancing the methodologies for performing structured reviews by providing a comprehensive and updated overview of the knowledge base of key technological software tools and the conduct of structured or bibliometric literature reviews.
  • ItemMetadata only
    Entrepreneuring as multispecies composting
    (Routledge, 2024-02) Cnossen, Boukje; Byrne, Orla; Lassalle, Paul; Thompson, Neil Aaron; Verduijn, Karen; Yeroz, Huriye
  • ItemOpen Access
    Is AI changing learning and assessment as we know it? Evidence from a ChatGPT experiment and a conceptual framework
    (Elsevier, 2024-02-10) Kolade, Oluwaseun; Owoseni, Adebowale; Egbetokun, Abiodun
    ChatGPT, a state-of-the-art chatbot built upon Open AI's generative pre-trained transformer, has generated a major public interest and caused quite a stir in the higher education sector, where reactions have ranged from excitement to consternation. This paper therefore examines the potential impact of ChatGPT on learning and assessment, using the example of academic essays, being a major form of assessment with widespread applications of ChatGPT. This provides an opportunity to unpack broader insights on the challenge of generative AI's to the relevance, quality and credibility of higher education learning in a rapidly changing 21st century knowledge economy. We conducted a quasi-experiment in which we deployed ChatGPT to generate academic essays in response to a typical assessment brief, and then subjected the essays to plagiarism checks and independent grading. The results indicate that ChatGPT is able to generate highly original, and high quality, contents from distinct individual accounts in response to the same assessment brief. However, it is unable to generate multiple original contents from the same account, and it struggled with referencing. The discussion highlights the need for higher education providers to rethink their approach to assessment, in response to disruption precipitated by artificial intelligence. Thus, following the discussion of empirical data, we propose a new conceptual framework for AI-assisted assessment for lifelong learning, in which the parameters of assessment extend beyond knowledge (know what) testing, to competence (know how) assessment and performance (show how) evaluation.
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    The impact of conformity, effort and performance expectancies on SMEs information technology adoption in Nigeria
    (Academic Publishing Pte. Ltd., 2023-12-01) Ojeme, Mark; Odiase, Martins
    This paper investigates the drivers of SMEs’ adoption of information technology (IT) in Nigeria, underpinned by the performance expectancy, effort expectancy and conformity impact on IT adoption. In addition, the study examined the impact of an organizational existence on IT adoption. Confirmatory Factor Analysis was applied to establish the model goodness-of-fit, while Structural Equation Modelling was employed to test the proposed model’s hypotheses. Further, multiple regression analysis was used to test the organization years of existence effect on IT adoption. The overall arching finding indicative predominant role of performance expectancy in explaining organization adoption of IT system. Furthermore, effort expectancy (ease of IT usage) showed mixed results. While it was a predictive construct in the overall study model, it proved redundant under five years of organization existence, but was predictive of organizational existence over five years. The conformity construct (maintenance of status quo) was insignificant in the study. The research adds value to the information technology literature by establishing the factors that drive 20 SMEs IT adoption in Nigeria, especially where organization age is concerned. The unit of analysis was at organization level, there is wisdom in considering employees’ demographics, 22 such as employee’s education, IT experience, or organizational trade in future studies.
  • ItemEmbargo
    The reluctant transition from modernistic business model myopia: paradigms, trajectories and the role of generational change
    (Cairn, 2023-12-31) Stokes, Peter
    This conceptual paper surfaces the oft-overlooked, yet hegemonic, influence of the modernistic paradigm on the frames of reference of many extant business modelling. Broadly, business models generally concern the ability to understand, predict and create (economic) value. The argument identifies the role of positivism (within umbrella modernism) operating through many models and considers alternative approaches and understandings to a positivistic lens. By way of response the paper points at the Critical Management Studies (CMS) insights. Equally, and in tandem, the paper signals the emergent potent impact and influence of contemporary experiences of, and commentaries on, extremes, generational theory, sustainability and the circular economy as forcing transformation in modernistic habits and thinking regarding business models and, above all, the values underpinning them.
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    Sprinting in hindsight: what we learned from validating university programmes at pace
    (Times Higher Education, 2024-01-31) Allman, Zoe; de Main, Leanne
  • ItemEmbargo
    An Analytical Reflection on Conducting Virtual Focus Groups with Young Women Exhibiting Limited to Moderate Digital Literacy Skills
    (2024-01-20) Kah, Sally
    Focus group design is a type of group discussion used to explore a group of individuals’ opinions, perceptions, and understanding of a specific topic chosen by the researcher. It requires systematic planning of the research objective, sample strategy, group composition and size, logistics, data analysis, and reporting of the findings that reflect all participant’s contributions. In this case study, I provide an analytical reflection of how I used a virtual focus group for a project that explored the skills developed and the self-perceived impact of a vocational education program from the learners’ perspectives. I suggest focusing on four elements when designing the focus group discussion: adopt a focus group framework. Then how to access and group the participants, engage the comoderator, and analyze the data. Using the micro-interlocutor framework was critical in planning, documenting, and analyzing the focus group data. However, I encountered ethical and practical challenges, such as the power dynamic between the participants and the comoderator. Also, the participants’ limited digital skills meant that I had to pivot on some planned activities during the focus group session. Addressing these challenges meant using problem-solving skills and effective communication at different stages of the research project. Based on my reflections, I propose practical steps for conducting virtual focus groups using DREP/SAPA Framework: define, recruit, establish, prepare, select, administer, promote, and analyze. These steps apply to other forms of group discussion but are specific to my learning experiences from a virtual focus group.
  • ItemMetadata only
    Utilizing China's Capacity in Everything the West Did Not Provide to Iran (Part Two)
    (Iran Diplomacy, 2021-04-11) Nasirpourosgoei, Seyed Navid
    Dr. Seyed Navid Nairpourosgoei writes in a note on Iranian diplomacy: The main foundations of Iran's imports in this month have also included countries such as China (25.4%), the United Arab Emirates (22.3%), Turkey (10.7%), India (6.9%), and Russia (5.5%). These statistics indicate Russia's entry into the top five importing countries and the exit of the Netherlands from this list. Published figures show that China accounted for a 25.4% share, the UAE 22.3%, Turkey 10.7%, India 6.9%, and Russia 5.5% of Iran's imports during this period. Considering the mentioned data, China can be identified as one of the largest current economies in the world, capable of holding a significant and excellent position in Iran's economic growth, trade, scientific production, politics, and security.
  • ItemOpen Access
    The spatialization of decent Work and the role of employability empowerment for minority ethnic young people in emerging economies
    (PLOS, 2024-01-13) Wall, Tony; Ngo, N.; Foster, S.; Luong, P.; Ho, P.; Hindley, A.; Stokes, P.
    Global rises in precarious labour conditions have prompted further empirical work in Decent Work, a special category of employment characterised by equitable pay, treatment, and healthy working conditions. Despite this, research has tended to be conducted in developed countries with privileged groups such as those with typical working arrangements and rely on psychologically framed individual characteristics to explain marginalising factors. We propose a more sociologically framed, spatialised perspective on Decent Work which posits that marginalising factors are spatially variable and determined but moderated by employability empowerment. We measure our propositions across three spatially different sites of Vietnam through (1) a survey of minority ethnic students and graduates (N=1071) and (2) a survey of stakeholders involved in the recruitment and employment of this group (N=204). We find support for most of our propositions and call for more spatialised empirical work in the field of Decent Work.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Business incubators in Africa: a review of the literature
    (Taylor and Francis, 2023-12-19) Egbetokun, Abiodun
    This paper reviews research on business incubators in Africa, as a policy tool for supporting entrepreneurial businesses. Combining bibliometric and narrative approaches, it identifies five themes in the literature: incubator types and support; incubator performance and innovation; incubator impact on businesses and economy; incubator role in start-ups; and incubator as enabler of learning. It also highlights gaps for future research, including the lack of studies on climate change and industrialization; the limited evidence on how to improve incubator support; the absence of studies on adaptive, responsive and inclusive incubators; and the scarcity of rigorous impact evaluations. The paper concludes that incubators are useful for enterprise development in Africa but need collective research and policy efforts to strengthen their contribution.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Consuming Spontaneity in Extraordinary Experience
    (ANZMAC, 2023-12-06) Mills, Scott; Patterson, Anthony; Quinn, Lee; Wohlfeil, Markus
    Marketing regularly evokes notions of spontaneity to engage consumers and sell products and services, yet scant scholarly attention has been paid so far to this concept and its influence on consumption. Indeed, a close reading of the literature on the seminal theoretical construct of extraordinary experience indicates that spontaneity is a central, but latent, element that requires further investigation. Hence, the purpose of this article is to understand the role of spontaneity in extraordinary experience. Drawing upon a 14-month ethnographic study into participating in live grassroots stand-up comedy, we tentatively introduce The Three Ss of Spontaneity: singularity, sociality, and speculation. As such, this paper contributes an original and emergent theorisation of spontaneity in extraordinary experience. Moreover, our study illuminates spontaneous action in marketing theory and practice by demonstrating it to be a positive and productive force in consumption.
  • ItemOpen Access
    Vinyl Resurgence: Escaping Digitalised Music’s ‘Iron Cage’
    (ANZMAC, 2023-12-06) Wohlfeil, Markus
    Despite having been deemed to be obsolete back in 1994, vinyl records are enjoying a major resurgence since 2011 with a year-on-year sales growth of 40%. Although marketing scholars of portray vinyl consumers as the ‘other’ in today’s digital society – be it as nostalgists with a romantic affection for vinyl’s materiality or as countercultural subcultures – the truth is that vinyl records have become popular with mainstream consumers and that nearly 48% of vinyl consumers are aged 35 years and younger. By drawing on Weber’s conflict theory, this study aims to explore how the growing popularity of vinyl records with mainstream consumers may be an escape from what is experienced as an ‘iron cage’ increasingly imposed by digital music providers. We found that mainstream consumers feel indeed oppressed, exploited and trapped into an iron cage created by the digital music providers’ irrational rationalisation of their services. Hence, they turn to vinyl records’ materiality for comfort.
  • ItemEmbargo
    Trading in Influence
    (Agenda Publishing, 2023) Al-Hiari, Ahmad
  • ItemEmbargo
    Wasta
    (Agenda Publishing, 2023) Al-Hiari, Ahmad Asem
  • ItemEmbargo
    Guanxi
    (Agenda Publishing, 2023) Al-Hiari, Ahmad