Flying academics – examining short-term international teaching assignments impact on academics’ career success and work-life balance

This thesis explores the views and experiences of academics involved in short-term international teaching assignments and the specific strategies employed by universities to manage and support their career success and work-life balance. Accordingly, this thesis examines the challenges faced, and the type and quality of support that might be deemed as appropriate for academics. The present thesis involves two interrelated studies (Study 1 & Study 2), utilizing a sequential exploratory design characterized by a qualitative investigation prior to quantitative data collection and analysis. Study 1 demonstrates the inter relationships between perceived organisational support, career success, and work-life balance; explicating why these relationships are important for academics engaged in short-term international teaching assignments. Study 2 extends the proposed model formulated in Study 1, aiming to prioritize support factors involved in short-term international teaching assignments. Specifically, findings suggest that academics who perceive their organisation as career-supportive experience enhanced levels of career satisfaction and career development. Findings also suggest that employees’ career success appear to be related strongly to work-life balance. These findings point to the all-round benefits that can result when universities reward their academics and capitalize on their offshore teaching experience. Such affirmative action would appear to acknowledge offshore teaching experience as being both important and integral to academics’ career development

Perceived fairness and satisfaction towards performance appraisal process: Do they affect organizational commitment and industrial relations climate?

Performance appraisal systems present valuable performance information to a number of critical human resource activities. Nevertheless, the performance appraisal systems impose a questionable of measurement accuracy, stimulates employee conflict and competition. Due to the paradox facets of performance appraisal system, major issues in related to an intricate dynamic relationship between employee satisfaction and perceived fairness are raised. As the employee satisfaction and perception are linked to both organizational commitment and industrial climate, it is important to gain a deeper understanding. Therefore, this paper attempts to explore the relationship between perceived fairness and reaction of performance appraisal system towards organizational commitment and industrial relations climate from an Asian perspective. Overall, this paper would be able to shed a new light in understanding the dynamic linkage, thereby leading to a new understanding of performance appraisal processes

Linking community of practices and open innovation through absorptive capacity: a conceptual framework for university-industry collaboration

Across organizations, community of practice (CoP) plays an important role for knowledge creation. This informal structure assists intra-community knowledge transfer which facilitates the learning or absorption of new knowledge. However, lack of research examines the role organizational absorptive capacity in assisting CoP towards open innovation. Based on resource based view and dynamic capabilities theory, this paper proposes a conceptual framework to investigate the relationship between CoP involvement and absorptive capacity and open innovation. This framework provides a sound basis for further research to shed light on the effects of R&D CoP with regards to university industry collaboration.Contributions to research and practice are discussed

Emotional Intelligence and Job Performance: A Study among Malaysian Teachers

AbstractEducational systems around the world have rapidly experiencing changes and reforms, impacting to teachers’ job performance. Despite these changes, discussion on how to predict teachers’ performance is complex and remains difficult to evaluate. This study addresses the gap in the literature by investigating the role of emotional intelligence in teachers’ job performance. This study analyses the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) which consists four dimensions: self-regulations, self-awareness, self-motivation and social skill (relationship management) and job performance. Respondents were 212 teachers in 6 secondary schools in Kedah. Data was collected through questionnaire survey and a significant correlation emerges from the data between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction. Overall, this research contributes to the emotional intelligence literatures by providing meaningful management implications to the school administrators and Malaysian higher education system

Analyzing the influence of decision making and effective employee communication on human resource agility in commercial banks: A mediation role for job satisfaction

The Middle East has witnessed global crises that have prompted substantial shifts in the enterprises’ competition. In today’s highly competitive marketplaces, businesses have recognized that HR agility is crucial to their success in the Middle East. However, there is a shortage of research on this topic, particularly in the Middle East context. This study aims to fill this gap by investigating the relationship between job satisfaction, effective employee communication, decision-making, and human resource agility in Jordanian commercial banks. Utilizing 460 questionnaires, this study used structured equation analysis to evaluate the data. Results confirmed that job satisfaction, effective employee communication, and decision-making positively correlate with HR agility. Furthermore, this analysis revealed that decision-making and effective employee communication positively impacted human resources agility via job satisfaction. This research is among the first to emphasize the key drivers of human resource agility in the Middle East context. Organizations can develop more effective HR strategies by understanding these factors critical to their continued success in the rapidly changing business environment. Consequently, this study recommends that other aspects of empowerment practice be used in future studies to expand the proposed framework and disclose their impacts on the variables, where more important results may be discovered

Factors affecting human resource agility: A literature review and future research directions

AbstractThis article gives a contextual understanding of human resource agility by highlighting organizational factors that influence it. The existing literature lacks assessments of the level of knowledge on this subject. The objective of this research was to address this gap by examining scholarly advancements in the area of human resources agility. To accomplish this, researchers reviewed all of the articles that would have been available in various electronic databases up to 2022. Conceptually, the data enabled us to determine that the agility of human resources comprised three connected dimensions: proactivity, resilience, and adaptation. One can acquire these characteristics through I) effective communication, II) delegation of authority, III) decision-making, and IV) work teams. This study also allowed us to suggest a plan for future research on the agility of human resources and other related topics. This article highlights the significance of human resource agility and its potential impact on business competitiveness, particularly in developing nations. It also brings attention to a topic that has limited discussion in academic literature

Flying Academics: Examining the impact of expatriation to academics

Sydney, NS

The Mediating Role of Absorptive Capacity in the Relationship between Research Community Participation and Open Innovation

This study aims to investigate the factors influencing research community participation and open innovation through the mediating role of absorptive capacity from the lens of Resource Based View and Dynamic Capability perspectives. Based on a survey of 115 senior engineering faculties from three research universities in Malaysia, this study applies the Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to investigate the research model. The findings demonstrate that top management support has a major impact on research community participation. The findings also suggest that absorptive capacity mediates the association between research community participation and open innovation capability. This study provides a theoretical basis on the resources and capability that are pertinent for open innovation. From a practical perspective, the relationships among research community participation, absorptive capacity, and open innovation suggest how universities can promote research community participation and assess their absorptive capacity to achieve open innovation

Diversification Strategies Among Small-Medium Enterprises: Embracing Practical Solutions in the Implementation of Indah Teraju Sdn. Bhd.

Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) known as the driver for both developing and developed economics including Malaysia. This category of business faced various challenges internally and externally which refrain them from growing and sustaining. From there, SME businesses initiate various initiative to overcome those challenges and one of the initiatives is through diversification strategy. However, implementing the strategy is not a guarantee success for SME entrepreneurs where various hurdles and challenges were faced. Practical intervention deemed as the key to successfully implement, subsequently lead towards favourable results for the business. Therefore, this study aims to understand the practical intervention took placed by one of the steadily-growing diversified SME in Malaysia namely, Indah Teraju Sdn. Bhd. (ITSB). The proposed model of intervention strategy in diversification implementation among SMEs is conceptualized based on the Resource-Based View and the absorptive capacity theory. It is employed an in-depth one-on-one interview with ITSB’s business owner and the data is analyzed through thematic analysis using NVivo12 software. Findings of this study revealed that ITSB implemented practical solution in terms of exploiting its’ existing networking while leveraging its’ interpersonal strengths. Also, the business adapting the current promotional strategies using social media for their marketing strategy. This study offers practical implication to the relevant stakeholders namely government agencies whom conducting entrepreneurial training and development program for SMEs as well as SME entrepreneurs themselves to focus on practical solution on diversification strategy implementation. While from the policymaker perspective, the design of training and development program should consider soft skills acquisition such as competitiveness, resilient, creativity and innovation among SMEs

FACTORS AFFECTING KNOWLEDGE SHARING OF ENGINEERS IN OIL AND GAS COMPANIES

Knowledge sharing among employees has been identified as one of the factors that contribute to improved job performance. Thus, this study examines the relationship between engineer’s perceived enjoyment, perceived status and subjective norm on their intention towards knowledge sharing in public oil and gas firms in Iraq. The study selects 240 engineers from oil and gas companies in Iraq to participate in the research. A questionnaire designed in a Likert scale format was used for the data collection. The data were analysed using descriptive statistical analysis and Correlation analysis. The results of the analysis show that there is a positive relation between engineer’s perceived enjoyment, perceived status and subjective norm on their intention towards knowledge sharing in public oil and gas firms in Iraq. The paper makes some recommendations on how to increase engineers’ perceived enjoyment, perceived status and subjective norm and eventually increase intention towards knowledge sharing