bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Transformational leadership, learning, and employability
Authors: Camps Joaquín , Rodríguez Hannia 
Published: June 2011

PurposeNumerous empirical works have found evidence to support a positive relationship between managers' transformational leadership behaviour and employees' individual performance. Studies have also begun to examine the process by which the effects on performance ultimately take place. This research aims to move forward in this direction. The paper aims to analyse the mediating role of a contextual variable (organizational learning capability) and a subordinate characteristic (employability) in the relationship between transformational leadership and individual performance.Design/methodology/approachThe hypothesis was tested through a sample of 795 workers from 75 university departments, using a multilevel path analysis with a two‐level data structure.FindingsEmpirical evidence was found to show that: there is a positive relationship between worker‐perceived organizational learning capability in a firm and his/her own employability perception; the worker‐perceived transformational leadership of his/her leader, and his/her own employability perception; the worker‐perceived organizational learning capability of a firm and his/her performance; the worker's perception of his/her own employability, and his/her performance; transformational leadership, OLC, and individual performance have a significant influence on the group, while employability can be considered only as an individual phenomenon; and at group level, the effects of transformational leadership on performance are mediated by organizational learning capability.Originality/valueAs far as is known, there has been no attempt to connect transformational leadership and employability and organizational learning capability and employability theoretically and/or empirically.
Competence development and career advancement in professional service firms
Authors: Pinnington Ashly H. 
Published: June 2011

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to learn about professional employees in the early stage of their careers, particularly, their understanding of competence development and career advancement. Law firms have a relatively low rate of turnover of professional staff when compared with employee flow rates that are standard in other organisations and industries. In law firms, the collective stock of embodied knowledge changes gradually influenced by recruitment cohort phases and employee departures. This paper aims to analyse lawyers employed in a reasonably munificent internal labour market context, seeking to understand their accounts of how their competencies can be developed and how their careers may be advanced.Design/methodology/approachThis paper considers the competences and careers of a group of junior professional knowledge workers employed full‐time in a large law firm and conceptualises their competence development and professional career advancement through an existential ontological conceptualisation using a qualitative interpretive research methodology.FindingsThe findings from interviews with lawyers in the Planning and Environment area of specialisation are reported concentrating on employees' perspectives. Lawyers' self‐understanding is strongly influenced by career stage and position in the organisation. Their understanding of work in contrast reveals more individual and idiosyncratic clusters of work activities and distinctive ways of acknowledging and developing technical and professional expertise. They express a preference for a focal group of other people at work selecting from primary orientations to either clients or peers or self.Originality/valueIt is concluded that policy makers, practitioners, and academic researchers all have roles to play in assisting people at an early stage in their career to reflect on their existing expertise, assess current work practices, and develop and pursue strategies for competency development and career advancement.
Predictors of career preferences of MNC knowledge professionals
Authors: Manolopoulos Dimitris , Dimitratos Pavlos , Sofikitis Emmanouil 
Published: June 2011

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to find out the influence of the roles of Research and Development (R&D) laboratories of Multinational Corporations (MNCs); and of employee‐related characteristics on future career preferences of knowledge professionals in these laboratories. Career preferences include managerial, technical, project‐based and entrepreneurial paths.Design/methodology/approachThis study draws on a large scale study of 921 professionals employed in 70 R&D units of MNC subsidiaries operating in Greece. Four ordered probit regression models were run with employee career preferences forming the dependent variables.FindingsTwo R&D laboratory roles (Support Laboratory and Locally Independent Laboratory); and age and education of the employee stand out as predictors of career preferences of examined professionals.Research limitations/implicationsNotwithstanding that this is a study that took place in a country with an advancing economy, it is seemingly the first that incorporates the roles of R&D laboratories as potential predictors of career paths. Moreover, the idiosyncrasies of the Greek national context are provided as possible explanations that justify why some hypotheses based on prior literature were not supported.Practical implicationsMNC knowledge professionals employed in R&D units are a special group of employees whose career paths may be different from those of other groups. Thus, MNC management should tailor‐make career preferences for them.Originality/valueThis research is one of the few empirical studies providing evidence on career paths of employees in MNC R&D units; and suggests possible predictors that have not been put forward hitherto.
Factors affecting intention to quit among IT professionals in Turkey
Authors: Calisir Fethi , Gumussoy Cigdem A. , Iskin Ibrahim 
Published: June 2011

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of stressors (role ambiguity, role conflict, work‐overload, work‐family conflict), job stress, job satisfaction and organizational commitment on the information technology (IT) professionals' intention to quit their jobs in Turkey.Design/methodology/approachA structural equation modeling approach was employed to identify the variables that significantly affect the decision to quit. Using LISREL 8.54, data collected from 204 IT professionals were used to test the proposed research model.FindingsThe results revealed that intention to quit one's job is explained by job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Besides, role ambiguity and job stress exert negative indirect effects on the intention to quit one's job. Additionally, organizational commitment is strongly explained by job satisfaction, and job satisfaction is predicted by role ambiguity and job stress.Practical implicationsThe study offers several significant suggestions for the continuity of IT professionals in companies.Originality/valueThere are two contributions of this paper. First, this study provides evidence for the impact of stressors, job stress, job satisfaction and organizational commitment on intention to quit jobs among IT professionals in Turkey. Second, it also provides insight into the importance of stress factors by dividing the stressors into specific stress factors such as work‐family conflict, work‐overload, role conflict, and role ambiguity.
Empirical study of public sector employee loyalty and satisfaction
Authors: Turkyilmaz Ali , Akman Gulsen , Ozkan Coskun , Pastuszak Zbigniew 
Published: June 2011

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify the factors which determine the level of public employees' job satisfaction and as result help to have effective and efficient management system in the public sector, in developing countries such as Turkey.Design/methodology/approachBased on theoretical considerations, a model was proposed linking the employee satisfaction and loyalty (ESL) constructs. The paper exhibits the findings of a satisfaction and loyalty survey of employment factors within the Turkish public sector. The survey was conducted in 2009 and covered 220 employees within the Istanbul Branch of a Social Security Institution in Turkey. A model was developed by including effecting factors of employee satisfaction, their relations and effects of employee satisfaction on employee loyalty. Partial least squares structural equation model was employed to test the model in the public insurance sector in Turkey.FindingsData analysis reveals that there is a strong relationship between ESL in a branch of a public sector Social Security Institution in Turkey. Training and personal development was found the most effecting factor of customer satisfaction. The study also finds a positive relationship between working conditions and satisfaction.Originality/valueThe paper reveals the relationship between the employee satisfaction and affecting factors in the public sector in Turkey. These factors are developed only incidentally in the public sector in Turkey. Human resource management (HRM) applications such as measuring employee satisfaction, performance development are widely used in private sector. Specifically, in developing countries such as Turkey, these applications are rarely used in the public sector. Therefore, the paper advocates the use of HRM applications in the public sector in a developing country.
Enterprise internationalisation by foreign investments and technical cooperation
Authors: Bojnec Štefan 
Published: June 2011

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the internationalisation of enterprises by specific forms of foreign direct investments (FDI) and international technical cooperation in the defence sector.Design/methodology/approachThe effects of defence FDI and international technical cooperation activities on the Slovenian economy are investigated using the input‐output modelling approach.FindingsThe author finds important direct and indirect effects on the Slovenian economy from the FDI and international technical cooperation inflows into enterprises. These positive effects are directly and indirectly linked to enterprises in different statistically classified industrial activities by predominance of the civil sector, which is important for the development of defence and civilian high‐technological base products in different regional parts of Slovenia.Originality/valueThe presented findings can be used to arrange industrial and regional development strategy and policy measures aimed at accelerating the internationalisation of enterprises and different industrial activities.
Warehouse contextual factors affecting the impact of RFID
Authors: Karagiannaki Angeliki , Papakiriakopoulos Dimitris , Bardaki Cleopatra 
Published: June 2011

PurposeEmpowered by the possibility to automatically identify unique instances, radio frequency identification (RFID) is expected to revolutionize warehouse processes. However, every warehouse differs from each other in several ways. Given such dimensionality, a credible assessment of the true value of RFID requires that the contextual factors that differentiate one warehouse from another are taken into account. The same RFID implementation may generate high productivity in one warehouse but not in another, because the former warehouse may have characteristics that may influence the impact of RFID. As a result, the purpose of this paper is to provide a framework for identifying key contextual factors that appear to be contingent on the link between RFID and warehouse performance.Design/methodology/approachThe framework derived from a two‐phase research design. The first phase incorporated two case studies. This was an exploratory study and, therefore, there was a great deal of iteration between the cases studies and the literature. The objective was to identify important contextual factors that may moderate the impact of RFID. The second phase incorporated simulation modelling. This was a confirmatory study. The objective was to develop two simulation models of the cases from the previous phase, and as a result, verify the effects of particular contextual factors on process performance.FindingsAs an outcome of this research, an initial subset of “warehouse contextual factors” is developed that may moderate the impact of RFID on warehouse performance. The framework is not an evaluating technique, but is a useful starting point for examining the value of RFID in the warehouse context.Research limitations/implicationsFurther work is required to support the significance of the moderating effects of the proposed contextual factors.Practical implicationsFor practicing managers the paper directs attention to key warehouse contextual factors that appear to be contingent on the link between RFID and warehouse performance. It also confirms that the achievement of RFID value is attainable only in combination with the redesign of business processes.Originality/valueThe paper integrates both theoretical and practical considerations regarding formalization of the contextual factors that may moderate the impact of RFID on warehouse performance. Therefore, it represents an initial step in building theory to develop guidelines for understanding the variance in the performance between different RFID‐enabled warehouse settings.
Corporate performance of ICT‐enabled business process re‐engineering
Authors: Lee Ya‐Ching , Chu Pin‐Yu , Tseng Hsien‐Lee 
Published: June 2011

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to evaluate information and communications technology (ICT) adoption and its impact on business changes and performance.Design/methodology/approachThis paper provides a model interconnecting ICT adoption, ICT‐enabled business process re‐engineering (BPR), and performance in terms of external and internal organizational motivations with a balanced scorecard approach. The framework is tested using survey data from a sample of 377 chief information officers and senior information system managers.FindingsThe results indicate that environment capacity fit and a dynamic environment positively affect technology adoption, which in turn directly triggers business processes changes, organizational learning and growth, while indirectly affecting improvement of customer satisfaction and financial performance.Research limitations/implicationsThis study is limited by its sample size due to the complexity of the questionnaire.Originality/valueThis paper provides empirical evidence to examine how intra‐ and extra‐organizational factors influence ICP adoption, how ICT shapes BPR, and business performance from a dynamic resources‐based view. These findings will be valuable in understanding various motivations of ICT adoption, and predicting outcome of business performance stemming from ICT‐enabled BPR.
A selection model for auditing software
Authors: Lin Ching‐Wen , Wang Chih‐Hung 
Published: June 2011

PurposeWith the advancement in information technology, many companies have become heavily dependent on computer‐assisted systems, and implemented various computer‐based business activities and document system, among which computer‐assisted auditing tools and techniques (CAATTs) is an important choice. CAATTs can assist auditors in conducting control and confirmation tests, analysis and verification of financial statement data, and continuous monitoring and auditing. When constructing computer‐assisted auditing systems, enterprises must take many factors into consideration to determine whether to develop the software or purchase professional software packages. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to construct an auditing software assessment model.Design/methodology/approachThis study first conducted a focus group interview to determine the auditing software criteria and decision‐making factors, and then identified the main decision‐making factors. Finally, analytic network process was employed to evaluate the weights of the criteria and decision‐making factors in order to construct an auditing software decision‐making model upon both objective and subjective factors.FindingsThe most important auditing software criterion is the system functions, followed by data processing, and technical support and service provided by the software company. The most important factor of auditing software is cost and system stability, followed by data processing accuracy, technical support, and purchase cost.Originality/valueThe main contribution of this paper is the construction of an auditing software assessment model, which can be applied to other decision‐making topics. Moreover, this study applies the model on audit command language, interactive data extraction and analysis, and Focaudit as examples. In addition to determining project priority sequences, the advantages and disadvantages of the model are presented in order to provide references to businesses on decision making regarding software purchases.
Value, supplier dependence and long‐term orientation
Authors: Gil‐Saura Irene , Ruiz‐Molina Maria‐Eugenia , Arteaga‐Moreno Francisco 
Published: June 2011

PurposeIn organizational markets, many companies tend to reduce the number of providers to focus on establishing relationships with few of them. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of relationship value and dependence of supplier on long‐term orientation and customer loyalty in the setting of relationships between travel agencies and their main providers.Design/methodology/approachA partial least square regression is performed to test a proposed model that links several relational variables with outcomes in terms of customer loyalty.FindingsResults provide support for the positive indirect influence of relationship value on long‐term orientation, while customer dependence of the main provider does not seem to exert a significant effect. These findings support the importance of value creation for providers in their relationships with their customers.Practical implicationsThis study allows us to suggest that service companies, such as travel agents, should concentrate on investing in generating benefits for customers through offering value‐added services, thus providing evidence that the supplier has no incentives to opportunistic behaviors.Originality/valueAlthough literature has reported the importance of both relational and market conditions for customer‐supplier relationships that involve physical distribution of goods and might require important investments in technological solutions to coordinate their relationships, little attention has been paid to service companies.
Solution of transfer alignment problem of SINS on moving bases via neural networks
Authors: Xinlong Wang , Liangliang Shen 
Published: June 2011

PurposeIn order to accomplish real‐time alignment of Shipborne strapdown inertial navigation system (SINS) on moving bases, a novel solution method of utilizing neural networks for rapid transfer alignment of Shipborne SINS was investigated.Design/methodology/approachThe system error state equations and measurement equations of the Shipborne transfer alignment were established. Based on the nonlinear and time‐variant SINS model on moving bases, a neural network learning algorithm based on Kalman filtering was presented, and the methods of constructing and training of neural networks input‐output sample pairs suitable for Shipborne SINS were proposed.FindingsVelocity and attitude errors between the master and slave inertial navigation system (INS) are chosen as network's inputs, and the information of sample pairs is affluent, which can advance the stability and generalization of the neural networks. The neural networks algorithms based on Kalman filtering not only have the self‐learning ability, but also remain recursive optimal estimation capability of Kalman filtering. Through the introducing of the local level trajectory frame, the trained neural networks can be independent on a ship heading, and only dependent on the relative position errors between master with slave INS and the inertial sensor errors.Originality/valueThis article presents an innovative solution method of utilizing neural networks for rapid transfer alignment of Shipborne SINS.
Hybrid charged system search and particle swarm optimization for engineering design problems
Authors: Kaveh A. , Talatahari S. 
Published: June 2011

PurposeMeta‐heuristic methods are powerful in obtaining the solution of optimization problems. Hybridizing of the meta‐heuristic algorithms provides a scope to improve the searching abilities of the resulting method. The purpose of this paper is to provide a new hybrid algorithm by adding positive properties of the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithms to the charged system search (CSS) to solve constrained engineering optimization problems.Design/methodology/approachThe main advantages of the PSO consisting of directing the agents toward the global best (obtained by the swarm) and the local best (obtained by the agent itself) are added to the CSS algorithm to improve its performance. In the present approach, similar to the original CSS, each agent is affected by other agents considering the governing laws of electrical physics. However, the kind of the forces can be repulsive and attractive. In order to handle the constraints, the fly‐to‐boundary method is utilized as an improved feasible‐based method.FindingsFour variants of hybrid methods are proposed. In these algorithms, the charged memory (CM) is changed to save the local best positions of agents. Utilizing this new CM to determine the direction and amount of movement of agents improve the power of the algorithms. When only this memory is utilized (method I), exploitation ability of the algorithm increases and when only two agents from CM in addition to other agents in the current iteration are used, then the exploration ability increases (method II). In order to have a good balance between exploration and exploitation of the algorithms, methods III and IV are proposed, where some agents of the memory and some other from the current agents are utilized. Method IV in which the numbers of used agents from the CM increase linearly, has a better search ability in addition to a powerful exploitation making this variant superior compared to the others.Originality/valueIn this paper, four hybrid methods are presented and applied to some benchmark engineering optimization problems. The new algorithms are compared to those of the other advanced meta‐heuristic methods to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods.
Modeling of random aerodynamic loads applied on fluid‐structure coupled systems using rain‐on‐the‐roof equivalent excitation
Authors: de Rochambeau Marie , Ichchou Mohamed , Troclet Bernard 
Published: June 2011

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to extend statistical energy analysis (SEA)‐like modeling to fluid‐structure coupled systems.Design/methodology/approachAn equivalent approach of aerodynamic loads is applied to a SEA‐like modeling of a panel‐cavity coupled system with rain‐on‐the‐roof excitation. Two aerodynamic excitations are presented: turbulent boundary layer (TBL) and diffuse field excitation. The energetic description of the coupled system is studied with both aerodynamic excitations, taking in account the coincidence effects. In order to extent the approach to more general systems, some parameters of the coupled system are also modified and the accuracy of the coupled system modeling is investigated.FindingsThe boundary conditions of the panel and the coupling strength between the panel and the cavity have been modified. As it was expected, the accuracy of equivalent approach is shown to be independent of such modifications. The interest of such calculation is thus highlighted: modelings of systems and aerodynamic excitations are independent, and can be treated separately.Originality/valueThis result is interesting in the space industry, for launch vehicles are excited by different types of random excitations. Those excitations can be modeled by SEA‐like with low calculation time and memory and applied to a unique system modeling.