Majority Of Academics Research Articles

Epistemic injustice and hegemonic ordeal in management and organization studies: Advancing Black scholarship

Why do the majority of (White) academics within management and organization studies (MOS) endorse discourses of equality, diversity and inclusion on the one hand yet ignore the epistemic injustice suffered by Black scholars on the other? We demonstrate how White supremacy within a historically racist academia marginalizes non-White bodies from knowledge production and dissemination by embedding epistemic injustice in MOS, and diminishing their utility globally. To expose the multifaceted harm caused by White supremacy, we reflect on Black scholars’ experiences of epistemic injustice, conceptualizing their work (i.e. Black scholarship) as underpinned by epistemic struggle and epistemic survival. We conceptualize epistemic struggle as striving to produce and disseminate knowledge in the face of difficulties and resistance generated by structural and agential powers. Epistemic survival denotes the sustained presence of Black scholarship through compromise, collusion and radicalism. Subsequently, we propose collective intellectual activism based on cross-racial coalitions to eliminate epistemic injustice and locate Black scholarship at the center of MOS.

Organizational Level Responses to the COVID-19 Outbreak: Challenges, Strategies and Framework for Academic Institutions

The outbreak of the novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)–CoV-2, has gained unprecedented global attention. SARS-CoV-2, which causes the newly described coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), has affected millions of people and led to over 1.9 million deaths worldwide by the beginning of January 2021. Several governments have opted for lockdown as one of the measures to combat the rapidly increasing number of COVID-19 cases. Academic institutions (i.e., universities, colleges, research centers and national laboratories), which are home to thousands of students, researchers, technicians, and administrative staff, have strictly followed government regulations. Due to the lockdown, the majority of academics have been facing various challenges, especially in transitioning from classroom to remote teaching and conducting research activities from a home office. This article from an early-career researchers’ perspective addresses the common challenges that academic institutions have encountered and possible strategies they have adopted to mitigate those challenges at the individual organizational level. Furthermore, we propose a framework to facilitate the handling of such crisis in any near future at the organizational level. We hope academics, policymakers and (non) government organizations across the globe will find this perspective a call to better improve the overall infrastructure of academic institutions.

The budgeting processes of Czech companies: the role of the ownership structure and foreign capital

Research background: The study investigates the initial phase of budgeting process conducted in corporations. The basic concept correlates with findings in scientific literature that describe budgeting as an inefficient tool, burdened by considerable regulation in the preparation and compilation stages. As a consequence, the majority of academics and practitioners have concluded that producing a budget is merely a formality that minimizes wrinkles on the faces of their initiators, while reaping debatable benefits for managerial control.
 Purpose of the article: This paper compares data from the literature with the actual budgetary practices of companies operating in the Czech Republic. The attention was paid to the detailed aspects of the budgeting process, factors affecting the time it takes to prepare a budget, and the impact of ownership structure, especially the role of foreign ownership and foreign capital, on the level of decentralization in the budgeting process.
 Methods: The authors examined these topics through a questionnaire completed by 136 respondents, primarily industrial companies based in the country. The subsequent hypotheses were assessed via application of the Z-test.
 Findings & Value added: The results presented show that the budgeting practices of the Czech firms are not only influenced by traditional factors (e.g. the size of the company and its given economic sector), but also certain other aspects. Essential facets comprise the ownership structure and the share of foreign capital involved, the latter affecting the extent of autonomy of the business as to the budgetary process. This submitted paper can extend the current theory with new findings on the specific nature of budgeting in post-socialist countries with an open economy and the significant influx of foreign capital.

Benchmarking the research track record and level of appointment of Australian medical laboratory science academics

BackgroundBenchmarking across and within universities is a common tool to evaluate performance of a program and maintain accreditation requirements. While teaching remains a primary responsibility of many academics, academic research performance is a major contributor towards career advancement and standards in the medical laboratory science profession. While anecdotal evidence suggests academics are active contributors to the evidence base of the profession, there is a high variability in research output in relation to institution and level of appointment. The aim of the study was to benchmark the research track record of Australian medical laboratory science academics and provide insight into how research productivity informs the level of appointment of academics across their career pathway.MethodsA bibliographic analysis of Australian medical laboratory science faculty websites and corresponding Scopus citation database profiles was conducted. A description of current research track record and relationships with holding a doctorate, academic appointment level, research and teaching interests, and institutional characteristics were explored. Quantitative data and frequencies were analysed using IBM SPSS version 26 to benchmark research track records by academic appointment level.ResultsThere were 124 academics identified from 13 universities who had a teaching and research position in an undergraduate medical laboratory science program in Australia. Academics at the level of lecturer or higher typically held a doctorate (89%). Holding a doctorate strongly influenced the number of publications. The top 20% of researchers authored around half of the overall publications. The majority of academics did not have alignment of their major research and teaching areas however, alignment had no influence on number of publications. There was, however, an inconsistent relationship between metropolitan or regional university location and the number of publications.ConclusionData from this study provides academics with benchmarks for the research track record required at each level of appointment. When drawing conclusions on academic progression, promotion and tenure through research track record it would be mindful to assess each on a case by case basis. Institution (metropolitan versus regional) and research interest appears to influence publication number, h-index and citation scores.

A importância de vídeos educacionais do YouTube na formação inicial de professores

Este artigo objetiva compreender a influência da utilização de vídeos educacionais do YouTube no processo de formação inicial de professores. A metodologia empregada foi qualitativa, através de questionário misto respondido por 153 acadêmicos de Universidades Públicas do Rio Grande do Sul. Sendo 75 licenciandos do Curso de Ciências da Natureza, 33 do Curso de Educação Física e 45 do Curso de Matemática. Os dados produzidos foram apresentados em gráficos, tabelas e nuvens de palavras e apontam que a grande maioria dos acadêmicos assistem vídeos educacionais do YouTube, sendo o curso de Matemática o que lidera a pesquisa e, também, esse curso assiste a maior quantidade de vídeos no semestre. Os acadêmicos buscam os vídeos principalmente para esclarecer dúvidas e mais de 91% consideram esta plataforma importante na formação. Conclui-se que os vídeos fazem parte da experiência formativa das três Licenciaturas investigadas, fato que merece atenção e discussão.

Use of electronic resources by law academics: a case study from the University of Namibia

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the use of e-resources by the Faculty of Law’s academic staff at the University of Namibia’s (UNAM’s) main campus. The study aimed to determine their level of awareness of electronic resources (e-resources) available to them, how useful and effective they found these e-resources, and the challenges they face in accessing them.Design/methodology/approachA convenient sampling technique was used to select a sample of 12 law academics from the population of 17. The study used both qualitative and quantitative research methods using questionnaires and a semi-structured interview guide.FindingsFindings revealed that the majority of the law academics were aware of the e-resources subscribed by UNAM’s library, although some were not aware of the newly subscribed international law databases. The findings further revealed that the academics used e-resources for research, publications and teaching purposes, but irregular training, bandwidth problems and limited searching skills hindered their use of e-resources.Practical implicationsFindings could be used to inform future collection-development decisions, realignment of information-literacy training and promotion and marketing of library services.Originality/valueThis study has made a significant contribution in the understanding the use of electronic legal resources by law academics at UNAM. The findings and recommendations could also benefit similar academic institutions in developing countries like Namibia.

Sensitivity Analysis of Machine Learning Models for the Mass Appraisal of Real Estate. Case Study of Residential Units in Nicosia, Cyprus

A recent study of property valuation literature indicated that the vast majority of researchers and academics in the field of real estate are focusing on Mass Appraisals rather than on the further development of the existing valuation methods. Researchers are using a variety of mathematical models used within the field of Machine Learning, which are applied to real estate valuations with high accuracy. On the other hand, it appears that professional valuers do not use these sophisticated models during daily practice, rather they operate using the traditional five methods. The Department of Lands and Surveys in Cyprus recently published the property values (General Valuation) for taxation purposes which were calculated by applying a hybrid model based on the Cost approach with the use of regression analysis in order to quantify the specific parameters of each property. In this paper, the authors propose a number of algorithms based on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning approaches that improve the accuracy of these results significantly. The aim of this work is to investigate the capabilities of such models and how they can be used for the mass appraisal of properties, to highlight the importance of sensitivity analysis in such models and also to increase the transparency so that automated valuation models (AVM) can be used for the day-to-day work of the valuer.

How to Supervise Senior Design Projects

Senior design projects for engineering students typically integrate various components of the curriculum to apply the basic sciences, mathematics and engineering sciences in realizing physical systems which solve real problems or make life more livable. The process of realizing senior design projects requires supervision from academics. Majority of young academics may not have sufficient experience to adequately understand the dynamics of this process, from conception to realization. The gap in experience as well as deficit of literary resources on practical steps for project supervision impacts negatively on the overall success of the student as well as the project. This paper presents, in practical steps, the general procedures for supervision of senior design projects in electrical and electronics engineering for optimal realization of projects. The paper discusses project supervision from conception to manuscript development, taking into consideration some of the potential challenges typically encountered. Finally, it presents typical inadequate and adequate titles as well as abstracts for a circuit.

“Don’t Give Up! Don’t Give in!” Gender in International Relations and “Curious” Feminist Questions

“Don’t Give Up! Don’t Give in!” Gender in International Relations and “Curious” Feminist Questions

Academics’ experience of copyright

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to obtain a snapshot of attitudes and comprehension of the University of Greenwich (UoG) academics towards copyright and the impact of same on their teaching, complementing this with a survey of the experience of academic librarians (ALs) throughout the UK when dealing with faculty and copyright.Design/methodology/approachTwo questionnaires were created and circulated to capture information from two sampled groups: the UoG academic staff and UK-wide ALs. A total of 55 responses were received to the questionnaire distributed to the former, and 83 responses were received to the questionnaire distributed to the latter.FindingsThe majority of the UoG academics believed they possessed a fair, or better than fair, understanding of copyright, with numerous respondents self-taught on the subject. Nevertheless, a significant number thought they might have broken copyright when teaching, while also revealing the belief that copyright was a limitation on their teaching. The AL survey suggested an average comprehension of copyright among academics, while noting that some of the latter felt a degree of antipathy towards copyright.Originality/valueAlthough focused on a single institution, this study implies that copyright instruction for academic staff needs to be substantially improved, and it suggests the need for greater visibility of training programmes.

The Impact of Brand Equity on the Achievement Customers’ Loyalty to the Brand: An Empirical Study of a Sample of Vodafone's Customers

This study aims to discover the role of the brand equity in the process to achieving the brand loyalty from customer perspective, which is represented the dominant perspective and favored by the majority of academics and practitioners in Marketing Research, This research was focused on the study of customer-based brand equity of the opinions of customers' sample of Vodafone. The research sample included (100) customer which refers to how responsive customer to Vodafone brand. The authors examined all the variables of the questionnaire by using (factor analysis). The study is showed the role of this perspective in satisfying the desires of customers, and revealed a number of conclusions that refers the importance of the brand equity to the customers in creating brand loyalty.

Fisioterapia baseada em evidências: nível de conhecimento dos acadêmicos da rede privada em Salvador - BA

Introdução: A Prática Baseada em Evidências (PBE) é definida como o uso da melhor e da mais recente evidência de pesquisa. Esta desenvolveu-se com a finalidade de promover não só a melhoria da assistência à saúde, mas também do ensino universitário, de forma preparar os futuros profissionais para os desafios da assistência em saúde. Objetivo: Investigar o nível de conhecimento dos acadêmicos dos cursos de graduação em Fisioterapia de três instituições privadas de Salvador-BA sobre a PBE. Materiais e Métodos: Estudo de delineamento transversal, cuja população foco foram 198 acadêmicos do último ano do curso de Fisioterapia provenientes de três instituições da rede provada de ensino. Foi aplicado um questionário composto por 12 questões objetivas com intenção de avaliar o nível de conhecimento dos conceitos que envolvem a PBE. Resultados: Dos 198 estudantes matriculados, 155 (78,4%) participaram do estudo. A maioria dos acadêmicos (97,9%) referiu ter pouco ou nenhum conhecimento a respeito da PBE. Além disso, verificou-se que os acadêmicos em sua vasta maioria não conheciam um número substancial de bases de dados eletrônicas, não possuíam habilidade para desenvolver estratégias de busca adequadamente em bases de dados ou a respeito de como selecionar e avaliar artigos científicos. Conclusão: A análise e interpretação dos dados revelaram que os acadêmicos das instituições avaliadas apresentavam limitado conhecimento concernente aos conceitos de PBE.

The Trade-Off Between Research and Academic Citizenship in Modern Universities

Academics have always been endowed with the privilege of autonomy, but the diffusion of evaluation systems based only on publication outcomes has constrained individual decisions, jeopardizing the potential beneficial effects deriving from more complex patterns of behaviors. Besides research and teaching, impact on society and academic citizenship, i.e., the service behaviors carried out within and outside organizational boundaries, are in fact cornerstones of university functioning. We rely on a dataset collecting publication records and data on 353 Italian scholars in the accounting sector in the period 2004-2013 to investigate the trade-offs between academic citizenship and research after the introduction of an evaluation system that rewards research performance. We use a cluster analysis to reveal different academics’ orientations, and we inquire into which factors affect the adherence to each pattern of behaviors using a multinomial logistic regression. We contribute to the debate on academic trade-offs by showing that the majority of academics tend to polarize on specific behaviors or remain stuck in the middle, without attaining satisfying performance in any domain. Moreover, we disclose that behaviors are path-dependent on previous performance rather on individual features or contextual characteristics.

Multiple choice questions in medical education: Indispensable or expendable?

In an interview, a medical teacher who was asked about his views on multiple choice questions (MCQs) could only mumble the words: “guessing” and “cheating.” Unfortunately, the majority of academics in India seem to hold the view that an MCQ is nothing but a guessing‑and‑cheating game. Such a misconception has adverse effects on medical education. MCQs, it should be borne in mind, are much more than just a type of question: it is an educational tool with four facets: it tests the student, teaches the student, tests the teacher, and teaches the teacher. The first role is preeminent and widely known. What is rarely appreciated is that the MCQ also “teaches the student:” every time a student guesses the answer, logically or randomly, rightly or wrongly, he or she stands to gain from it when told the correct answer. More importantly, the concepts gained from good MCQs tend to lodge themselves in the intermediate‑term memory, the reason for which is to be found in the way the brain functions: only those events that are associated with emotions are stored in the intermediate‑term memory. Read more....

The Emphasis to the History of the South African Liberation Struggle in the Nation’s Universities

This article analyses the emphasis given to the teaching of the South African liberation struggle history at the country’s universities. Although this history has been analyzed in books, chapters, journal articles, conference papers, theses,and dissertations by South African scholars working in various disciplines, it is generally underrepresented in the curricula of the country’s universities. This absence stems, at least in part, from the racial segregation that divided South African universities until the end of Apartheid in 1994. Today, the overwhelming majority of lecturers devote, on average, six or fewer of their annual class sessions to the subject, when most university modules run from seven to fourteen weeks. Despite the limited time given to topics on South African liberation struggle history, a majority of academics surveyed in history and political science departments believe that their institution’s undergraduate curriculum deals sufficiently with the history. Thus, aside from some notable exceptions, South African departments of history and political science have failed to integrate this eld within the broader study of national history. As a result, most university-educated South Africans lack post-secondary formal study on the history of the liberation struggle, a reality that affects the development of research and scholarship on this topic.

As percepções de acadêmicos ingressantes na licenciatura em Educação Física sobre si mesmos e a profissão docente

O objetivo deste estudo foi analisar as percepções de acadêmicos ingressantes de um curso de licenciatura em Educação Física (EF) de uma universidade pública da região sul do Brasil sobre si mesmos e a profissão professor. Caracterizamos a pesquisa como qualitativa na forma de estudo de caso. O instrumento para a coleta de informações foi um questionário, tendo a interpretação das respostas por meio da análise de conteúdo. Participaram vinte acadêmicos ingressantes do referido curso. Concluímos que para a maioria dos acadêmicos ingressantes estudados a trajetória escolar na educação básica influenciou consideravelmente a escolha pelo curso de licenciatura em EF como profissão, predominando uma escolha inconsciente, pois, no mínimo não se informaram bem sobre ela, trazendo uma concepção da EF representada pelo esporte e que por isso possuem uma atratividade pela docência oscilante entre o sim e o não.

Ethical exceptionalism: can publishing rules be manipulated to give the impression of ethical publishing?

Faced with increased threats, biomedical publishing is fortifying its publishing fortress. More rules, greater ethical standards, more verification steps, stricter penalties all seem to characterize a publishing environment that has become considerably hostile, and aggressive. It does not help that the system is being increasingly exploited by unethical individuals or groups, either intellectually or financially, and now monitored by an equally aggressive post-publication science watchdog vigilante movement. When extremes build up within a system, they create intolerable stress and at some point, the system will explode. In the past few years, biomedical publishing has witnessed several important ruptures to its integrity and a concomitant rise in the power of influence of ethical groups or organizations who have been entrusted, in some cases self-entrusted, with creating and monitoring the evolution of the ethics rules that the vast majority of biomedical academics are then expected to follow. This paper puts forward a hypothetical argument that “ethics” associations, or publicly acclaimed ethics specialists, are also subjected to the same corrupting forces as authors, editors or publishers. Despite this, none are being scrutinized, or being held accountable in an independently verifiable manner. “Ethical” power holds great marketing value for for-profit publishers. This paper examines hypothetically how “ethics” associations could become corrupted, could accumulate excessive power, or could manipulate rules to create a dual system of ethics to favor themselves.Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol.16(4) 2017 p.610-614

Mbarara University Research Training Initiative: a spin-off of the Medical Education Partnership Initiative in Uganda.

Scientific productivity in Africa is insignificant compared to that in the rest of the world. This has been attributed to the fact that, in spite of academic qualifications, junior faculty, who form the majority of academics in low- and middle-income countries lack experience in research. This calls for a need to put in place programs that provide hands-on training in research so that junior faculty can conduct relevant research. The Mbarara University Research Training Initiative, a Fogarty International Center-funded program, is one such program that was developed to provide research capacity training for junior faculty at the Mbarara University of Science and Technology. The program utilizes health priority areas to provide research training to junior faculty. During the training, they are given short-term-focused research training on particular knowledge and skills, which they apply while conducting the mentored research.

Credit Hour System and Student Workload at Alexandria University: a possible paradigm shift

<p>The study aims at investigating the perceptions of both academics and students on student workload in Credit Hour System at the Faculty of Education at Alexandria University (Egypt). It uses the wider international experience of higher education reform, including Tuning Africa Project — II, to propose implications for policy and practice on how the real work hours needed by a student to achieve the learning outcomes specified in the curriculum and to pass a course or module are adequately estimated and to contribute to the definition of the basis of a Credit System for Africa. The data have been collected through questionnaires administered to 26 participants: 11 academics (one academic per course) and 15 students (each student surveyed 11 times across all courses of the Professional Diploma in Education). The main findings show significant differences between the perceptions of academics and students on student workload almost across all courses, where students’ estimation of the number of hours needed to complete the independent work during the semester were much higher than that of academics except for fieldwork (site visits). The independent workload as estimated by academics is 62% of students’ estimation. Significant differences were found between the perceptions of students on the number of hours required for each type of independent work across different courses except “preparation and follow-up work for scheduled classes”. The highest average of estimations of the number of hours was given to course N. 11 (World Trends in Quality Assurance Systems); whereas the lowest average was given to course N. 5 (Assessment of Quality in Educational Institutions) across all different types of independent work. Only 36.4% of academics have taken students’ feedback on workload into consideration when planning the workload for their courses. It was also found that 92% of students were not informed about the number of hours planned for independent work at the beginning of the course. In addition, 88% of students were not asked to express their feedback about workload. These findings indicate that there are no unified regulations among academics to the estimation of student workload. It is also made clear that the process of estimating student workload in Credit Hour System at Alexandria University is staff-centred rather than student-oriented as the majority of academics follow traditional methodologies in the estimation of student workload. It is also enunciated clearly that there is marginal coordination between academics teaching in the same programme. It can be concluded that student voice about their workload is not adequately considered as their feedback is not taken into consideration, which can be interpreted in light of the absence of a “paradigm shift” from staff-centred to student oriented approaches to the estimation of student workload.</p>

Scholar Outsiders in the Neoliberal University: Transgressive Academic Labour in the Whitestream

Over the past 15 years of tertiary sector reform, the nature of academic governance in New Zealand universities has radically changed. Globalization, neoliberal experimentation and managerialist practices have come to characterize a higher education system where the locus of authority is at an ever-widening distance from the majority of academics. This paper uses sociological analyses of organizational structure to explore how macro and micro-level interactions within the managerialist university shape ethnicized, classed and gendered institutional status systems. Drawing on interviews with 43 Māori and Pacific senior scholars in nine universities and Wānanga, we consider the role of scholar ‘outsiders’ from the point of view of minoritized/ethnicized academics and argue that while academic labour within the institutional margins can be profoundly alienating these sites are less readily accessed by institutional elites and therefore open up possibilities for organized scholarly resistance to the neoliberal status quo.