62 research outputs found
Assuming Data Integrity and Empirical Evidence to The Contrary
Background: Not all respondents to surveys apply their minds or understand
the posed questions, and as such provide answers which lack coherence, and
this threatens the integrity of the research. Casual inspection and limited
research of the 10-item Big Five Inventory (BFI-10), included in the dataset of
the World Values Survey (WVS), suggested that random responses may be
common.
Objective: To specify the percentage of cases in the BRI-10 which include
incoherent or contradictory responses and to test the extent to which the
removal of these cases will improve the quality of the dataset.
Method: The WVS data on the BFI-10, measuring the Big Five Personality (B5P), in South Africa (N=3 531), was used. Incoherent or contradictory responses were removed. Then the cases from the cleaned-up dataset were analysed for their theoretical validity.
Results: Only 1 612 (45.7%) cases were identified as not including incoherent
or contradictory responses. The cleaned-up data did not mirror the B5P- structure, as was envisaged. The test for common method bias was negative. Conclusion: In most cases the responses were incoherent. Cleaning up the data did not improve the psychometric properties of the BFI-10. This raises concerns about the quality of the WVS data, the BFI-10, and the universality of B5P-theory. Given these results, it would be unwise to use the BFI-10 in South Africa. Researchers are alerted to do a proper assessment of the
psychometric properties of instruments before they use it, particularly in a
cross-cultural setting
The visibility of digital money : a video study of mobile payments using WeChat Pay
This paper analyses situated uses of digital payment platforms, contributing to the sociology of money, and digital sociology. Our data are video recordings of 256 small-scale transactions, gathered from across four Chinese cities, at grocery stores, supermarkets, street markets, restaurants, and cafes. Our focus is the visibility of money and we focus on a particular circumstance associated with some WeChat payments. In the cases we analyse, payment is made visible via a confirmation screen the customer alone sees. We argue payment applications provide a good empirical site for understanding how digital media reconfigure âthe socialâ by shaping how monetary information is seen and heard. Rather than eliminating trust, reducing transactions to impersonal semi-automated affairs, we show mobile payments generate new and complex patterns of economic action. A nuanced language game is described that requires sellers trust customers are acting in good faith. We show how âthe socialâ is imprinted on this contemporary monetary medium
Parental engagement in primary schooling in Aotearoa New Zealand: A policy enactment case study
Parental engagement in education is a deceptively simple idea. Supported by theory and empirical evidence, it is promoted in educational policy in many countries, including Aotearoa New Zealand. Nevertheless, research demonstrates a gap between the rhetoric and the reality of parental engagement practice. The critiques of factors and barriers influencing the gap in practice do not adequately address how schools, as sites of policy enactment, deal with the multifaceted dimensions of parental engagement.
This study aims to increase the knowledge and understanding of the reality of parental engagement, especially as it is enacted and experienced in an Aotearoa New Zealand school setting. It focuses on two less considered material contexts, built and digital space. The research involved a single bounded case in an English-medium (state-not integrated) primary school. It is possible to apply multiple methods within a policy enactment case study, making it ideal for examining parental engagement's contextual, creative, and negotiated enactment process.
The study's findings identified several limiting factors in the enactment of parental engagement. Dominant neoliberal and other, more traditional subjectivities constrained parental engagement by restricting the type of opportunities offered and which parents were able to take them up. Built space was underestimated as a source of both constraint and possible support for parental engagement, whilst digital space has transformative potential.
The study concludes that greater clarity and a shared purpose would support the improved positioning of parents, the evaluation and alignment of built space to enhance parental engagement, maximise the potential of digital technologies, and help guide teachers and schools in their enactment. The findings have implications for government, teacher education, and teacher professional development to help realise these benefits for parental engagement
A Proof-of-Concept IoT System for Remote Healthcare Based on Interoperability Standards
[EN] The Internet of Things paradigm in healthcare has boosted the design of new solutions for the promotion of healthy lifestyles and the remote care. Thanks to the effort of academia and industry, there is a wide variety of platforms, systems and commercial products enabling the real-time information exchange of environmental data and people's health status. However, one of the problems of these type of prototypes and solutions is the lack of interoperability and the compromised scalability in large scenarios, which limits its potential to be deployed in real cases of application. In this paper, we propose a health monitoring system based on the integration of rapid prototyping hardware and interoperable software to build system capable of transmitting biomedical data to healthcare professionals. The proposed system involves Internet of Things technologies and interoperablility standards for health information exchange such as the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources and a reference framework architecture for Ambient Assisted Living UniversAAL.This research received no external funding. The APC was funded by Research group Information and Communication Technologies against Climate Change (!CTCC) of the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, Spain.Lemus ZĂșñiga, LG.; FĂ©lix, JM.; Fides Valero, Ă.; Benlloch-Dualde, J.; Martinez-Millana, A. (2022). A Proof-of-Concept IoT System for Remote Healthcare Based on Interoperability Standards. Sensors. 22(4):1-17. https://doi.org/10.3390/s2204164611722
Sustainable Business Models in Tourism
We invite you to read the Special Issue on business models in tourism, in the context of considering the principles of sustainable development. It is a collection of 14 articles published in a Special Issue of Sustainability MDPI in 2019â2021. The dynamic changes taking place in the world economy, social life, and the natural environment force entrepreneurs to change their business models. This also happens in the tourism business. The SARS-COV2 virus pandemic has increased the need for change. It is necessary to offer managers modern management tools that cover the broadest possible scope of integration of the elements of the conducted business activities, at the same time adjusted to the specificity of the market and needs of the natural environment in which the enterprises managed by them operate. This book, formulated in the light of the presented needs, aims to use the concept of business models and sustainability business models in the context of a tourism enterprise adapted to the existing conditions of tourist and spa activities
Leading Towards Voice and Innovation: The Role of Psychological Contract
Background: Empirical evidence generally suggests that psychological
contract breach (PCB) leads to negative outcomes. However, some literature
argues that, occasionally, PCB leads to positive outcomes.
Aim: To empirically determine when these positive outcomes occur, focusing
on the role of psychological contract (PC) and leadership style (LS), and
outcomes such as employ voice (EV) and innovative work behaviour (IWB).
Method: A cross-sectional survey design was adopted, using reputable
questionnaires on PC, PCB, EV, IWB, and leadership styles. Correlation
analyses were used to test direct links within the model, while regression
analyses were used to test for the moderation effects.
Results: Data with acceptable psychometric properties were collected from 11
organisations (N=620). The results revealed that PCB does not lead to
substantial changes in IWB. PCB correlated positively with prohibitive EV, but did not influence promotive EV, which was a significant driver of IWB. Leadership styles were weak predictors of EV and IWB, and LS only partially moderated the PCB-EV relationship. Conclusion: PCB did not lead to positive outcomes. Neither did LS influencing the relationships between PCB and EV or IWB. Further, LS only partially influenced the relationships between variables, and not in a manner which positively influence IWB
Technology at work and domestic labour: A critical exploration of gender, class, and work-life articulation
Ph. D. Thesis.This thesis explores how reproductive and other domestic labour is managed in work time through personal internet use at work [PIUW]. For parents, PIUW makes it possible to be available to children during the workday and to receive communications from school and nursery. It allows life projects to be managed across the work-life boundary. Managing life projects in work time has widespread wellbeing benefits. However, it is clear from empirical data that technology is not universally enabling in the contemporary office. Analysis of 44 interviews with office workers and managers reveals a dramatic inequality between those in working-class and middle-class jobs. Overall, this study finds that the PIUW of those in working-class jobs is constrained (limiting their ability to manage life-related tasks) while the PIUW of those in middle-class jobs is enabled (allowing them to manage life-related tasks). Furthermore, women in middle-class jobs are significantly more likely than women in working-class jobs to use PIUW instrumentally, to manage home-related tasks. To explain findings, this thesis develops a realist intersectional comparison of gender and occupational class that supports a critical explanation of the interplay between agency and structure through which observed differences in PIUW, relationships between phenomena such as norms, workplace rules, and individual beliefs are explored. Two elements of Lawsonâs ontological framework are drawn on. These are Lawsonâs (2012) theory of social positioning and Lawsonâs (2003) method of contrastive explanation. As a result, an original theoretical contribution is developed via a theoretical model of positionality created from the abductive analysis. The model makes it possible to explain how class manifests itself through the labour process leading to several contributions. Firstly, an explanation is developed of how it is that one group of workers is relatively disadvantaged regarding PIUW. Secondly, through tracing relationships between labour process conditions and collective rule-following practices, an explanation is developed of how inequality is inscribed at multiple levels through the operation of organisational power. Thirdly, by comparing the work-life experiences of those in different labour market positions this research contributes to debates around work-life and inequality, that are otherwise overly focused on the experience of the middle clas
Soft Computing Techniques and Their Applications in Intel-ligent Industrial Control Systems: A Survey
Soft computing involves a series of methods that are compatible with imprecise information and complex human cognition. In the face of industrial control problems, soft computing techniques show strong intelligence, robustness and cost-effectiveness. This study dedicates to providing a survey on soft computing techniques and their applications in industrial control systems. The methodologies of soft computing are mainly classified in terms of fuzzy logic, neural computing, and genetic algorithms. The challenges surrounding modern industrial control systems are summarized based on the difficulties in information acquisition, the difficulties in modeling control rules, the difficulties in control system optimization, and the requirements for robustness. Then, this study reviews soft-computing-related achievements that have been developed to tackle these challenges. Afterwards, we present a retrospect of practical industrial control applications in the fields including transportation, intelligent machines, process industry as well as energy engineering. Finally, future research directions are discussed from different perspectives. This study demonstrates that soft computing methods can endow industry control processes with many merits, thus having great application potential. It is hoped that this survey can serve as a reference and provide convenience for scholars and practitioners in the fields of industrial control and computer science
The Dream Team? Immigrants, Multilevel Marketing and Integration
The continuing undervaluing of the credentials and skills that granted new Canadian immigrants with college and university education admission into Canada as skilled immigrants negatively impact their integration into the formal labour market. The result is that many then settle for low skilled precarious employment in the formal labour market, which exposes them to cycles of precarity through unemployment, underemployment, and low income. In order to advance, some turn to the more accessible employment in multilevel marketing (MLM) that operates on the democratic principles of equality, liberty, and empowerment. This study examines whether the lack of integration provides a push into MLM and how such engagement in MLM impacts the integration and overall well-being of immigrants. Expanding the discussion of precarity beyond the formal labour sector, the study also evaluates the precariousness of work in MLM. To this end, political economy serves as the overarching analytical framework. The study also draws upon insights from Boltanski and Chiapello (2006), Boltanski and Thvenot (1999), Weber (1905/2002), Barth (1981) and Tocqueville (1835/2004) to supplement the political economy perspective. While Barth and Tocqueville provide a basic understanding of attitudes and predispositions that regulate actions and interactions in advanced democracies, including the imperative to network, Boltanski and his respective works with Chiapello and Thvenot outline the rationalities for understanding action within a system of coexisting values. In addition, Webers writing provides the means to connect these various strands. Drawing from in-depth qualitative interviews with current and former MLM participants, findings from the study show that immigrants who opt for MLM work are encased in a cycle of precarity and double jeopardy, by which the supposed solution to the precarity in the formal labour market complicates and, indeed, becomes the problem. This is because instead of fostering a pathway for immigrant integration, MLM serves as an impediment as it exhibits enhanced characteristics of the precarious employment that thrives in the formal sector
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