bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A workflow-based solution to support the assessment of collaborative activities in e-learning
Authors: Aouine Amina , Mahdaoui Latifa , Moccozet Laurent 
Published: March 2019

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to focus on assessing individuals’ problems in learning groups/teams and should lead to the assessment of the group/team itself as a learning entity.

Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, an extension of the IMS-Learning Design (IMS-LD) meta-model is proposed in order to support the assessment of collaborative activities in e-learning. Besides, the software architecture which consists of a set of components forming a web wizard to create, track and assess the collaborative assessment processes is described as to support that extension of the IMS-LD meta-model.

Findings
With the proposed solution we can: make assessment fairer using individual and collective assessment indicators to assign final scores to learners; make an assessment step by step for better individual and collective monitoring activities; and divide the assessment into lighter phases for the correctors. Consequently, the evaluator will have more detailed information about his/her students and the quality of judgment will be better. This could also be useful for the evaluator in order to plan further examinations.

Research limitations/implications
Further experimentations are necessary to test the effectiveness of the proposed system in order to analyze its performances under a massive usage. In addition, the authors plan to use a survey to collect learners’ opinions to know the effectiveness of the proposal in terms of fairness in the assessment of collaborative activities in an online community.

Originality/value
This paper addresses important issues in the educational area, especially assessment of collaborative activities. In fact, to reduce subjectivity and increase fairness in assessing learners in collaborative work, for example, using the peer assessment, in order to try reducing subjectivity and fairly assessing learners. However, while assessing group work, the same mark is attributed for all group members and authors have concluded that it is not the right approach to make a fair and more objective assessment.
E-learning in tertiary institutions in Botswana: apathy to adoption
Authors: Jaiyeoba Olumide Olasimbo , Iloanya Jane 
Published: March 2019

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the nomological web between technology acceptance model metrics such as perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, perceived web privacy of e-learning resources on attitude and behavioural intention of virtual platform for learning by university students.

Design/methodology/approach
The study employed a quantitative method by using self-administered survey instruments among university students who have at least one year of e-learning experience. Psychometric nomenclature of survey instruments was conducted and the reliability and validity metrics of perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, extent of e-learning use, perceived web-based privacy, attitude and behavioural intentions meet the threshold as established in extant literature. Correlation and regression analysis were conducted to explicate hypothesised relationship.

Findings
The study found out that e-learning use, perceived usefulness and attitude are associated with learners behavioural intentions, while perceived ease of use and perceived web-based privacy are not significantly associated with behavioural intentions of e-learners in Botswana. The findings further showed in the regression analysis that the extent of e-learning use, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and attitude are significantly related to behavioural intentions, while the perceived web-based privacy is not significantly related to behavioural intentions.

Practical implications
The e-learning processes thus help outline the effective marketing strategies and promotions or nichemanship among university students which help uncover the influence of innovation metrics on e-learning among the youth target audience in Botswana as the country seeks to achieve a paradigm shift from mineral-led economy to knowledge-based society.

Originality/value
Despite the popularity of e-learning approach as explicated in extant literature, the extent to which such platform is accepted with respect to security and reliability most especially in an emerging economy like Botswana is ambiguous. This study thus seeks to establish the extent to which e-learning in Botho University and Botswana Open University creates a platform for intention to use as regards technological acceptance parsimonious model in Botswana.
Reducing information asymmetry with ICT
Authors: Asongu Simplice , le Roux Sara , Nwachukwu Jacinta , Pyke Chris 
Published: March 2019

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate loan price and quantity effects of information sharing offices with information and communication technology (ICT), in a panel of 162 banks consisting of 42 African countries for the period 2001–2011.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical evidence is based on a panel of 162 banks in 42 African countries for the period 2001–2011. Misspecification errors associated with endogenous variables and unobserved heterogeneity in financial access are addressed with generalized method of moments and instrumental quantile regressions.FindingsThe findings uncover several major themes. First, ICT when integrated with the role of public credit registries significantly lowered the price of loans and raised the quantity of loans. Second, while the net effects from the interaction of ICT with private credit bureaus (PCBs) do not improve financial access, the corresponding marginal effects show that ICT could complement the characteristics of PCBs to reduce loan prices and increase loan quantity, but only when certain thresholds of ICT are attained. The authors compute and discuss the policy implications of these ICT thresholds for banks with low, intermediate and high levels of financial access.Originality/valueThis is one of the few studies to assess how the growing ICT can be leveraged in order to reduce information asymmetry in the banking industry with the ultimate aim of improving financial access in a continent where lack of access to finance is a critical policy syndrome.
Investment in working capital and financial constraints
Authors: Laghari Fahmida , Chengang Ye 
Published: March 2019

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between working capital management and corporate performance with financial constraints.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses large panel sample of Chinese listed firms over the period 2005–2015 using system generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator that controls unobserved heterogeneity of individual firms well and GMM methodology is robust to address endogeneity issues.FindingsEmpirical evidence finds inverted U-shaped relationship between working capital and corporate performance and exhibits similar evidence for financially constrained firms. Evidence shows impact of high sales and discounts on early payments at low level of working capital and dominance of opportunity cost and cost of external finance at high level of working capital. The findings of the results show that optimal working capital level of financially constrained firms is relatively lower due to high cost of external capital and debt rationing. The results also indicate that on averageNETis significantly lower for firms with Tobin’sQ>1 than firms with Tobin’sQ=1, and suggest that aggressive working capital management is significantly and positively associated with higher corporate values.Originality/valueThis paper is among few that complement the existing literature by providing evidence that inverted U-shaped relationship between working capital management and corporate performance also exists in the context of Chinese listed non-financial firms. Exclusively, the relationship of working capital and corporate performance with linkage of financial constraints is scant in the context of Chinese listed non-financial firms.
The making and sustaining of leaders in health care
Authors: Boyle Terry J. , Mervyn Kieran 
Published: March 2019

Purpose
Many nations are focussing on health care’s Triple Aim (quality, overall community health and reduced cost) with only moderate success. Traditional leadership learning programmes have been based on a taught curriculum, but the purpose of this paper is to demonstrate more modern approaches through procedures and tools.

Design/methodology/approach
This study evolved from grounded and activity theory foundations (using semi-structured interviews with ten senior healthcare executives and qualitative analysis) which describe obstructions to progress. The study began with the premise that quality and affordable health care are dependent upon collaborative innovation. The growth of new leaders goes from skills to procedures and tools, and from training to development.

Findings
This paper makes “frugal innovation” recommendations which while not costly in a financial sense, do have practical and social implications relating to the Triple Aim. The research also revealed largely externally driven health care systems under duress suffering from leadership shortages.

Research limitations/implications
The study centred primarily on one Canadian community health care services’ organisation. Since healthcare provision is place-based (contextual), the findings may not be universally applicable, maybe not even to an adjacent community.

Practical implications
The paper dismisses outdated views of the synonymity of leadership and management, while encouraging clinicians to assume leadership roles.

Originality/value
This paper demonstrates how health care leadership can be developed and sustained.
Business model innovation in small- and medium-sized enterprises
Authors: Müller Julian Marius 
Published: March 2019

PurposeIndustry 4.0 is expected to significantly transform industrial value creation. However, research on business models affected through Industry 4.0, and on small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), remains scarce. In response, the purpose of this paper is to address both aspects, further elaborating on the role that SMEs can take toward Industry 4.0 as provider or user.Design/methodology/approachThe paper used an exploratory research design based on 43 in-depth expert interviews within the three most important German industry sectors, mechanical and plant engineering, electrical engineering and automotive suppliers. Interviews were conducted with leading personnel of the respective enterprises, including 22 CEOs. They assign business model implications through Industry 4.0, referring to the Business Model Canvas, while the paper delineates between Industry 4.0 providers and users.FindingsThe paper finds that key resources and value proposition are among the most affected elements of the business model, whereas channels are the least affected. Furthermore, distinct characteristics between Industry 4.0 providers and users can be delineated. In general, Industry 4.0 providers’ business models are significantly more affected than users, except for key partners and customer relationships.Research limitations/implicationsIndustry 4.0 remains at its early stages of implementation. As a result, many interviewees’ answers remain at a rather general level.Practical implicationsStrategies for the further alignment of the business models are provided for Industry 4.0 providers and users.Originality/valueThe paper is among the few that investigate Industry 4.0 in the context of SMEs and business models.
Gender and water governance in Mexico
Authors: Silva Rodríguez de San Miguel Jorge Alejandro 
Published: March 2019

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to look at how water management reflects patriarchal considerations or gender biases that inflict a penalty upon Mexican women and enumerates recommendations that can both ameliorate water management across Mexico.

Design/methodology/approach
Peer-reviewed scholarly materials, carefully vetted for empirical worth, for the clarity and soundness of their research methodologies, and for their capacity to account for confounding or complicating factors, are reviewed. Special attention is given to studies, found in academic databases such as EBSCOHost, conducted in the years 2013–2018.

Findings
The Mexican state has finally made some progress in recognizing the hurdles women face in attaining educational equality, but there is not yet the universal application and comity that would ensure appropriate levels of representation in all communities. Mexico will have to do more to compel local actors to give greater credence to the voices of women.

Research limitations/implications
There is a need for further primary research to more comprehensively capture what actions women are taking to carve out a large policy-making space for themselves in a country that has only quite recently begun to realize the contributions women can make to forward-looking water governance policy.

Originality/value
The uneasy confluence between water governance and gender within the Mexican context is an area of growing concern to those interested in how water management systems and protocols shape broader social justice and equality developments across Mexico.
Preliminary evidence of brand acquaintancing on Snapchat
Authors: Sashittal Hemant , Jassawalla Avan 
Published: March 2019

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to empirically derive and test a framework of brand acquaintancing – a new emotional attribution resulting from user-brand interactions on Snapchat, a popular social medium with ephemeral properties.Design/methodology/approachFocus group data were used to derive a framework, hypotheses and measurement scales for explicating the brand acquaintancing construct. Structural coherence of the framework and reliability and validity of scales were tested using a survey sample of Snapchat using students. The purified theoretical model was tested using a nationwide sample of Snapchat users.FindingsThe studies find that Snapchat users are receptive to unknown and stranger brands. Users’ fear of self-disclosure triggers a search for acquaintances on the medium, i.e., acquaintances are sought over friends and intimates. Moreover, unknown and stranger brands encountered on the medium are acquaintance, i.e., awarded the status of an acquaintance.Research limitations/implicationsThe studies found Snapchat users receptive to unknown and stranger brands. Users’ fear of self-disclosure triggers a search for acquaintances on the medium, i.e., acquaintances are sought over friends and intimates. Moreover, unknown and stranger brands encountered on the medium are acquaintanced, i.e., they were awarded the status of an acquaintance.Originality/valueThe paper presents empirical evidence of brand acquaintancing on Snapchat, and contributes to a more nuanced understanding of social media platforms to aid scholars and practitioners.
Store love in single brand retailing: the roles of relevant moderators
Authors: Sarkar Abhigyan , Sarkar Juhi Gahlot , Bhatt Gaurav 
Published: March 2019

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate how various retail store atmospheric cues can impact store brand loyalty (SBL) via eliciting store brand love. This paper posits that different store brand experiential cues can predict brand love only when the experience is processed based on perceiving the brand as human-like entity, i.e. brand anthropomorphization. Brand love cannot be strongly elicited without the sense of brand anthropomorphization. Moreover, brand love can impact brand loyalty intention only under the moderating condition of perceived firm’s positive relationship marketing orientation.Design/methodology/approachSurvey was conducted among urban shopping mall consumers, and the data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.FindingsThe findings support that store brand experience elicited by store environmental cues can better predict store brand love when the store is perceived as human, and store brand love can better predict conative SBL when consumer perceives that the store is having a positive relationship orientation.Originality/valueThe value of the paper lies in empirically testing the psychological mechanism through which store atmospheric cues lead to SBL.
Consumer knowledge and attitudes toward functional foods in Lebanon
Authors: Chammas Romy , El-Hayek Jessy , Fatayri Mira , Makdissi Reine , Bou-Mitri Christelle 
Published: March 2019

Purpose
The development and commerce of functional foods (FF) is complex, expensive and risky. Besides technological obstacles and legislative aspects, consumer demands also need to be considered. The purpose of this study is to assess the Lebanese consumer’s knowledge, attitudes and acceptance of FF and functional ingredients.

Design/methodology/approach
A cross-sectional study recruited a convenience sample of adults living in Mount Lebanon in 2015. An interviewer-based questionnaire assessed socio-demographic factors, medical status, consumption and knowledge of FF and FI ingredients. The data were analyzed using statistical package for social sciences.

Findings
Out of 251 respondents, 40.6 and 32.0 per cent were knowledgeable about FF and FI, respectively, and 67.3 per cent consumed them. Calcium (48.0 per cent) and omega-3 (38.6 per cent) were identified as the most important FI. The consumption of FF was mainly owing to their nutritional benefits beyond basic nutrition (44.2 per cent); however, fearing artificial additives and their side effects (33.4 per cent) were reasons for rejecting them. FF knowledge was higher among young (p = 0.005) and single individuals (p = 0.002) and those going to the gym (p = 0.001), whereas willingness to learn about them was only associated with higher education (p < 0.001). Prebiotic yogurt consumption was higher among gym visitors (p = 0.017) and knowers of FF (p < 0.001). The consumption of protein bars and shakes was higher among males and those going to the gym (p < 0.001). The consumption of cereal bars was higher among young individuals, single, with high income, going to the gym and knowledgeable about FF (p < 0.05).

Originality/value
The findings are useful for market orientation, development and successfully negotiating new market opportunities of FF for both food industries and policymakers.
Cross-border to Taiwan but not China
Authors: Choy Wai Ching , Lau Pui Yan Flora 
Published: March 2019

Purpose
This study aims to find out why some students from Hong Kong (HK) consider higher education in Taiwan, rather than in China or elsewhere. It also attempts to build a decision-making model to advance the conventional push-pull logic associated with this particular issue.

Design/methodology/approach
The authors interviewed 11 undergraduate students from HK via an in-depth interview. Interviewees were recruited by snowball sampling. To protect the privacy of the interviewees, all names of the informants in this paper are pseudonyms.

Findings
A dynamic decision-making mechanism, which includes three major layers, namely, the macro, meso and micro levels, has been developed to demonstrate that HK students made their decision based on a recursive fashion with bounded rationality, rather than on a linear fashion with complete rationality.

Research limitations/implications
Although the relatively small number of interviewees has limited the representativeness of the research, the authors suggest that rather than claiming representativeness, the study attempts to tease out the diversity of the decision-making process and mechanisms.

Originality/value
The drastic increase in the number of HK students in Taiwan proves the current research study, which is the first qualitative research on the phenomenon, as a timely one. In addition, the present study is one of the few examples of studying students’ international mobility from a more economically advanced region (HK) to a less economically advanced one (Taiwan).
Welcome to the Atta world: A framework for understanding the effects of leaf‐cutter ants on ecosystem functions
Authors: Swanson Amanda C. , Schwendenmann Luitgard , Allen Michael F. , Aronson Emma L. , Artavia‐León Allan , Dierick Diego , Fernandez‐Bou Angel S. , Harmon Thomas C. , Murillo‐Cruz Catalina , Oberbauer Steven F. , Pinto‐Tomás Adrián A. , Rundel Philip W. , Zelikova Tamara J. 
Published: March 2019

Abstract

Leaf‐cutter ants are a prominent feature in Neotropical ecosystems, but a comprehensive assessment of their effects on ecosystem functions is lacking. We reviewed the literature and used our own recent findings to identify knowledge gaps and develop a framework to quantify the effects of leaf‐cutter ants on ecosystem processes.

Leaf‐cutter ants disturb the soil structure during nest excavation changing soil aeration and temperature. They mix relatively nutrient‐poor soil from deeper layers with the upper organic‐rich layers increasing the heterogeneity of carbon and nutrients within nest soils.

Leaf‐cutter ants account for about 25% of all herbivory in Neotropical forest ecosystems, moving 10%–15% of leaves in their foraging range to their nests. Fungal symbionts transform the fresh, nutrient‐rich vegetative material to produce hyphal nodules to feed the ants. Organic material from roots and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi enhances carbon and nutrient turnover in nest soils and creates biogeochemical hot spots. Breakdown of organic matter, microbial and ant respiration, and nest waste material decomposition result in increased CO2, CH4, and N2O production, but the build‐up of gases and heat within the nest is mitigated by the tunnel network ventilation system. Nest ventilation dynamics are challenging to measure without bias, and improved sensor systems would likely solve this problem.

Canopy gaps above leaf‐cutter ant nests change the light, wind and temperature regimes, which affects ecosystem processes. Nests differ in density and size depending on colony age, forest type and disturbance level and change over time resulting in spatial and temporal changes of ecosystem processes. These characteristics remain a challenge to evaluate rapidly and non‐destructively.

Addressing the knowledge gaps identified in this synthesis will bring insights into physical and biological processes driving biogeochemical cycles at the nest and ecosystem scale and will improve our understanding of ecosystem biogeochemical heterogeneity and larger scale ecological phenomena.

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