International faculty, knowledge transfer, and innovation in higher education: A human resource development perspective

Constructive feedback and the perceived impacts on learning and development by the learners’ genders

BACKGROUND: Constructive feedback has positively contributed to learning and development, especially for disengaged and underprivileged learners. The study examines whether the perceived impacts from constructive feedback are different between the male and female learners. OBJECTIVE: The objective is to assess whether there is a significant difference in the perception between the male and female learners in their response to constructive feedback. Three circumstances are under study-general feeling towards constructive feedback, perceived impacts on belongingness and happiness, and perceived impacts on the frequency of physical, verbal, and psychological bullying. METHODS: There are 482 learners who participated in the surveys, 185 male and 297 female learners. Statistical analysis is applied to gain more insights into the surveys. A follow-up small session is organized to enhance the findings. RESULTS: It appears that the impacts from constructive feedback on the learners’ genders are apparently minimal within the context of three circumstances. Thus, the perception of the learners who are disengaged and underprivileged is relatively comparable. CONCLUSIONS: The findings contribute to dealing with the disengaged learners in a workplace (and a school). Despite the insignificant difference based on the gender, other issues relating to design and delivery of constructive feedback should be further investigated.

Reporting the Social Value Generated by European Universities for Stakeholders: Applicability of the Global Reporting Initiative Model

Universities are increasingly being asked to contribute to addressing the significant local and global challenges, such as those identified in the 2030 Agenda. Set in this framework, universities need to account for the social value they generate through their activities, particularly from the perspective of their contribution to different stakeholders. This approach requires, first of all, that the main stakeholders are identified. Relationship and dialogue mechanisms then need to be established which can help guide universities to choose activities which can better meet the needs of their stakeholders. The current paper analyses the potential of integrated reports, and triple bottom line reports, as an instrument for reporting on aspects that go beyond the financial sphere, including economic, social and environmental aspects. Specifically, the paper focuses on studying the viability of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) for reporting the value that European universities generate for their stakeholders. The results show, firstly, that the universities in the sample do not sufficiently address these questions in their reports. Internal stakeholders are prominent in their reports, with the interaction between them and the universities being generally unidirectional. References to value generated are limited, and usually refer to the economic value. However, some examples of good practices are identified that could be used to improve standards of reporting, especially in universities committed to integrated reporting initiatives, in order to better reflect the social value.

Effects of external feedback on disengagement in a human-centric environment

BACKGROUND: Overcoming the disengagement feeling in a human- centric environment such as a workplace or a school is essential. In fact, the disengagement in a workplace or at school is one of the major challenges today. Lack of meaningful engagement contributes to this feeling. OBJECTIVE: It is to assess the impacts of external feedback on learning and development. External feedback reflects engagement with the disengaged learners. METHODS: Two schools where the students are generally viewed as disengaged have been involved since 2016. Foreign business communities have worked closely with teachers, and disengaged learners as an external feedback provider. The feedback design is based on the Double-loop Learning. The survey is used to assess the impacts of external feedback. RESULTS: External feedback significantly contributes to more positive feeling on safety, belonginess, and happiness which is essential for learning and development. Based on the findings, external feedback helps overcome the feeling of disengagement in a human-centric environment. CONCLUSIONS: The proper use of external feedback in a human-centric environment shows tangible benefits, especially when dealing with the disengaged learners. External feedback can help re-engage the disengaged learners which can lead to better learning and development.

Feedback and human learning: Preliminary insights from disengaged students

BACKGROUND: How to reconnect the disengaged learners has been a major challenge for human learning. Motivating the disengaged learners through traditional interventions has not been effective. OBJECTIVE: The study aims to examine whether feedback from an external unit would be more persuasive for the disengaged learners. The perception on a lack of learning stems from poor attitude of learning, poor behavior, laziness, and lack of learning ability and attention. METHODS: A foreign business community has collaborated with two Bangkok Metropolitan Administration schools since 2016 on creating constructive and indirect feedback. There were 337 students from both schools participated in the survey. 163 students participated in the revised practices while 174 students attended the traditional practices. RESULTS: The results show the gap between the two groups on the effects from constructive and indirect feedback. The disengaged students from the revised pedagogy show that they are attracted to constructive feedback and indirect feedback more. CONCLUSIONS: The findings show that, unlike the traditional paradigm, the disengaged students are perceptive to external feedback. The findings show some consistency with previous studies. Integrating external feedback can attract the attention from the disengaged students which could potentially contribute to human learning.

Do managers learn more about successful project management methods from articles in high impact factor journals?

BACKGROUND: In recent years, the need to develop performance-based measurement systems to improve project management outcomes has dramatically increased. Managers still take various risks during the course of managing projects which lead to ineffective decision making. A range of theories discuss such behaviors. These theories demonstrate that the discussion of risk embedded in non-optimal decision-making processes is based on theory rather than practical knowledge. However, various components of project management can be derived from academic best practices for decision making. OBJECTIVE: The study aims to explore whether articles in high impact journals tend to embody practical, rather than theoretical, knowledge thus closing the gap between academia and industry. The study is based on SEM and various machine learning classification methods. METHOD: The study was conducted using an NLP analysis of 1461 academic journals in the field of project management. RESULTS: Results show a significant positive relationship between the success of projects and the impact of new practical procedures. In contrast, a negative correlation was found between theories that use non-practical processes of effective project management. CONCLUSION: Managers can learn about new methods for project management from articles in high impact factor journals.

From training to learning: Transition of a workplace for industry 4.0

BACKGROUND: Transition into Industry 4.0 has had many significant impacts. Customization symbolizes leanness, flexibility, adaptability, and agility. A business operator needs to recognize the factors that contribute to better utilization of the talents of its workforce and more effective workplace learning. OBJECTIVE: The study aims to provide a construct which highlights effective workplace learning. In this context, a construct represents a broad view of various interrelated ideas and concepts which can point to academic and practical implications. METHODS: The study applies action research which is suitable when observing a transformative change. The study intends to observe and notice how the environmental factors have changed and try to predict their impacts on human capital development. To help verify the suitability of these impacts, a comparison with similar studies or findings is made. Focuses on literature reviews which look at the impacts from Industry 4.0 (on a need to tackle the waste of the talents in a workplace), recent developments of learning (on an emerging importance of informal learning), and survey’s data (on a shift in a workplace’s expectation on the workers). RESULTS: Workplace learning has gradually replaced training and education. The proposed construct can help tackle the underutilization of the talents in a workplace as the workers are nowadays expected to perform the tasks and learn at the same time. CONCLUSIONS: Sustaining learning in a workplace needs to understand behavior, motivation, emotion, and workplace engagement. Informal learning, which reflects the individualization of learning, can enable an organization to deal with workplace learning.

Does higher education properly prepare graduates for the growing artificial intelligence market? Gaps’ identification using text mining

BACKGROUND: The renewed advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is inducing profound changes in the classic categories of technology professions and is creating the need for new specific skills. OBJECTIVE: Identify the gaps in terms of skills between academic training on AI in French engineering and Business Schools, and the requirements of the labour market. METHOD: Extraction of AI training contents from the schools’ websites and scraping of a job advertisements’ website. Then, analysis based on a text mining approach with a Python code for Natural Language Processing. RESULTS: Categorization of occupations related to AI. Characterization of three classes of skills for the AI market: Technical, Soft and Interdisciplinary. Skills’ gaps concern some professional certifications and the mastery of specific tools, research abilities, and awareness of ethical and regulatory dimensions of AI. CONCLUSIONS: A deep analysis using algorithms for Natural Language Processing. Results that provide a better understanding of the AI capability components at the individual and the organizational levels. A study that can help shape educational programs to respond to the AI market requirements.

Trust in leaders and employee silence behaviour: Evidence from higher education institutions in Indonesia

BACKGROUND: It is important for decision-makers such as leaders to be aware of employee silence behaviour within organizations. Failure to see this phenomenon tends to reduce the quality of information regarding potential issues in the organizations. OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the effect of trust in leaders on employee silence behaviour and the mediating role of organizational commitment within this relationship. METHODS: Data were collected from academicians working at private higher education institutions within an Indonesia city. Relying on the social exchange theory, the current study tested the hypotheses through the analysis of partial least square –structural equation modeling (PLS–SEM). RESULTS: Findings confirmed that trust in leaders positively affects organizational commitment and negatively affects employee silence behaviour. Furthermore, results suggested that organizational commitment fully mediates the link between trust in leaders and employee silence behaviour. CONCLUSIONS: These findings present a valuable contribution for scholars and managers in understanding the mechanism underlying the relationship between trust in leaders and employee silence behaviour, especially in non-profit organizational settings such as higher education institutions in Indonesia.

Empirical research on the role of internal social capital upon the innovation performance of cooperative firms

BACKGROUND: Internal social capital in the cooperative firms has emerged in recent years as an important concept for improving innovation performance. OBJECTIVE: We explore whether the cohabitation of the different interacting social groups, namely cooperative members, and non-cooperative members, will generate disparate impacts on the circumstance for enhanced innovation. METHODOLOGY: A sample of 180 cooperative firms in Ethiopia, with two respondents per firm, consisting of one adherent and one non-adherent member, we reflected on the theory of social capital, and by adopting a relational, cognitive, and structural concept. We conducted Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) through PLS to analyze the importance of each group for innovation performance. RESULTS: Our results suggested that the internal interaction between adherent and non-adherent members of cooperative enterprises positively influences their “innovation performance”. The findings also revealed that non-adherent members were more involved in building innovation than adherent members. CONCLUSIONS: The results provide empirical evidence that internal social factors are essential assets for effective innovation in cooperatives, and established a new line of research within an empirical perspective.

A debate about implementing immersive technology for higher education: Pre-study examining the usability of virtual reality for lectures

BACKGROUND: As the COVID-pandemic has shown, the need for innovative (digitalized) solutions is in high demand across almost every field of interest. The implementation of advanced technologies in higher education provides an intriguing opportunity to expand its scope by reaching new audiences as well as ensuring a high quality of learning outcome. OBJECTIVE: In this article we tried to examine if virtual reality can be a suitable option by placing lectures into a virtual setup. METHODS: First, we explored the theoretical background if and how virtual reality has been adapted for usage in higher education. We then asked five lecturers from the IMC University of Applied Sciences Krems to test a virtual environment (Mozilla Hubs) and evaluate the platform for their teaching purposes. RESULTS: Among one of the results was, that 80 percent would recommend using the platform for lectures to their colleagues. Due to the small sample size the findings need to be further evaluated. CONCLUSIONS: In the foreseeable future virtual reality will become a valuable teaching assistance in higher education. Findings show that the response rate when training with virtual reality applications is much higher than to common studying methods.