Master Of Business Administration Research Articles

Examining learning experience using a storytelling case: A best practice case study

Traditional marketing case analysis involves students reading from a textbook and writing an analysis paper, which consists of a summary of the present situation, root problem(s), presenting alternatives, evaluating strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, and creating strategy recommendation(s). The idea of having students study case analysis in an alternative format was considered. A small, locally owned, upscale restaurant was chosen as the subject of a new case to be studied in a Master of Business Administration (MBA) marketing strategy course. Rather than having it presented in a written format, electronic storytelling was selected as the means for presenting the case. Approximately 250 students completed the case in an online course over a one-year period. The students completed an online survey after submitting case analysis papers. Survey data revealed that 92 per cent of the population thought storytelling was interesting, 78 per cent indicated that it improved their learning experience, and 79 per cent indicated that they would like more storytelling cases in the MBA strategy course.

Editorial introductions

Editorial introductions

Nonkululeko Gobodo: a challenger challenged

Learning outcomes This case study aims to ensure that, students should be able to recognise the behaviours that influence the in-member out-member categorisation that transpires in the workplace, both from the leader’s perspective and that of the followers; determine and understand the relevance of forming interpersonal relationships in the workplace and that interpersonal relationships create fundamentally positive or negative work experiences and impact on career opportunities in the workplace; gain an understanding of the internal bias and subjective comfort that leaders must actively overcome to establish an environment in which the entire team becomes in-group members; and be able to assess the contextual variables that contribute to the negative or positive aggravation of the leader–member exchange. Case overview/synopsis It was 16 October 2014, and Nonkululeko Gobodo, Executive Chair of accounting firm SizweNtsalubaGobodo, was looking to her younger sister, Notemba Dlova, for emotional support, as she sought to address an important issue that was on the agenda of the firm’s board of directors’ meeting the following day. Tensions between her and Victor Sekese, Chief Executive Officer of the firm, were mounting, and a number of the directors were unhappy with the status quo. “How do you think I should address the issue?” she asked Dlova. Both sisters knew that at stake was Gobodo’s future at the firm she had battled so hard to build up in the face of racial and gender stereotypes. Complexity academic level The case study is appropriate for use in a range of postgraduate courses aimed at Master’s in Management and Master of Business Administration (MBA)-level students. It is also suitable for use in postgraduate diplomas in business and executive education short courses. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 6: Human Resource Management.

CEO educational backgrounds and non-GAAP earnings disclosures

Non-GAAP earnings have received attention recently. Existing literature suggests CEOs’ educational backgrounds affect the financial reporting quality. Thus, the paper analyzes whether the educational background of CEOs affects the disclosure of non-GAAP earnings. Using logit regression to examine the probability of non-GAAP earnings disclosures, this study finds the coefficient value of MBA is 0.4171, which suggests that CEOs with an MBA degree are more likely to disclose non-GAAP earnings than other CEOs. In addition, the moderating effect of audit committee quality on the association between CEO educational backgrounds and non-GAAP earnings disclosures is investigated. The coefficient value of MBA×ACC_QUA is –2.809, which suggests that audit committee quality negatively moderates a positive association between MBA-holding CEOs and non-GAAP earnings disclosures. By focusing on a company’s non-GAAP earnings, this study contributes to the financial reporting literature. The results provide evidence that CEO education backgrounds and audit committee quality influence firms’ non-GAAP earnings disclosures. AcknowledgmentThe author acknowledges the financial support of the National Science and Technology Council, R.O.C. (Award number MOST 111-2410-H-035-048-).

Ordeal or opportunity: IDPS journey through COVID-19 pandemic

Learning outcomes This case enables students to understand the nature of a typical crisis and manage a crisis drawing insights from the protagonist handling of the crisis and from the various crisis management models in the literature. The rich description of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the world in this case enables students to understand the nature of a typical external crisis. The critical appraisal of the protagonist’s plans and actions to overcome the crisis enables students to appreciate the various crisis management frameworks or models. In addition, students get perspectives about the leadership skills and competencies required during a crisis. In this way, students will not only learn about the theoretical concepts related to the crisis but also the practical know-how to effectively handle the crisis. Case overview/synopsis This case study describes the functioning of the International Delhi Public School (IDPS) Akhnoor, Jammu, and Kashmir, India, through the COVID-19 global crisis. The IDPS academic operations were disrupted because of the COVID-19 global crisis in March 2020. The protagonist, KCS Mehta, the school principal of IDPS, faced with the crisis, takes various steps to ensure the smooth transition of school’s academic operations from the physical mode to the online mode. This case explains the nature of an external crisis that completely crippled the organization’s day-to-day operations and how the organization’s leader tried to manage the crisis to revitalize the organization’s operations. The case can be used for teaching of alternate Models of Crisis Management and Change Management. Complexity academic level The case is developed to teach the courses of Executive training programs and MBA programs in business schools. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 11: Strategy.

Viscoelastic or viscoplastic theory (VGT #83): A study of influences on consumer price index resulted from consumer psychological reactions and consumption behavior change during the COVID-19 pandemic 9-quarters period from Y2020Q1 to Y2022Q1 based on GH-method: math-physical medicine, especially the VGT energy tool (No. 673)

The author is a mathematician and engineer who has conducted medical research work over the past 13 years. Thus far, he has written 670 medical research papers. Beginning with paper No. 578 dated 1/8/2022, he wrote a total of 80 medical research articles using the viscoelasticity and viscoplasticity theories (VGT) from physics and engineering disciplines on 80 different medical problems with their associated data. These papers aim to explore some hidden biophysical behaviors and provide a quantitative understanding of the inter-relationships of a selected medical output (symptom) versus singular input or multiple inputs (root causes, risk factors, or influential inputs). The hidden biophysical behaviors and possible inter-relationships exist among lifestyle details, medical conditions, chronic diseases, and certain severe medical complications, such as heart attacks, stroke, cancers, dementia, and even longevity concerns. The chosen medical subjects with their associated data, multiple symptoms, and influential factors are “time-dependent” which means that all of the biomedical variables are changing from time to time because body living cells are dynamically changing. This is what Professor Norman Jones, the author’s adviser at MIT, suggested to him in December 2021 and why he utilizes the VGT tools from physics and engineering to conduct his medical research work since then. From 1980 to 1981, the author attended a college in California for his MBA degree, emphasizing finance and marketing. In addition, he spent many years managing a successful high-tech semiconductor business in Silicon Valley, where it involved many key factors of economics and finance, such as gross domestic product (GDP), inflation rate, consumer price index (CPI), NASDAQ stock performance, price-earnings ratio (P/E ratio), various investment decisions, return on investments (ROI), etc. As a result, money subjects associated with finance and economics are not unfamiliar subjects to him. In addition, during the 9 years from 2002 to 2010, he self-studied psychology and established 4 psychotherapy centers to take care of 200+ abused women and abandoned children. Therefore, he has accumulated a considerable amount of knowledge on psychological behaviors, especially from the field of clinical psychology of abused victims. During his recent medical research work using the tool of viscoelastic or viscoplastic behavior theory, he suddenly realized that there is a strong similarity between medicine and economics. The behaviors and patterns of economic variables (inputs and outputs) he observed are comparable to the behaviors and patterns of medical variables he studied and researched (causes and symptoms), in terms of their curve shape & waveforms, fluctuation patterns, moving trends, physical behaviors, etc. For example, he has applied the candlestick chart or K-line diagram from Wall Street as an effective glucose representation tool in medicine. Most importantly, variables in both medicine and economics possessed the common “time-dependent” characteristics. The recent COVID-19 pandemic is a severe and unique experience to worldwide people that is comparable to the Spanish Flu that happened over a century ago. He wondered what type of economic impact or inter-relationship from this pandemic had on some of the current economic indices. Therefore, in this article, he selects the CPI of US cities as the output variable along with the COVID-19 death and infection cases in the USA as two input variables to conduct his combined study of both economics and medicine.

Viscoelastic or viscoplastic theory (VGT #84): A comparison study of the influences on the gross domestic product (GDP), inflation rate, and consumer price index (CPI) in the USA resulting from consumer psychological reactions and spending behavior changes over 9-quarters during the COVID-19 pandemic period from Y2020Q1 to Y2022Q1 based on GH-method: math-physical medicine, especially the VGT energy tool (No. 674)

The author is a mathematician and engineer who has conducted medical research work over the past 13 years. Thus far, he has written 670 medical research papers. Beginning with paper No. 578 dated 1/8/2022, he wrote a total of 80 medical research articles using the viscoelasticity and viscoplasticity theories (VGT) from physics and engineering disciplines on 80 different medical problems with their associated data. These papers aim to explore some hidden biophysical behaviors and provide a quantitative understanding of the inter-relationships on a selected medical output (symptom) versus either singular input or multiple inputs (root causes, risk factors, or influential inputs). The hidden biophysical behaviors and possible inter-relationships exist among lifestyle details, medical conditions, chronic diseases, and certain severe medical complications, such as heart attacks, stroke, cancers, dementia, and even longevity concerns. The chosen medical subjects with their associated data, multiple symptoms, and influential factors are “time-dependent” which means that all biomedical variables change from time to time because body living cells are dynamically changing. This is what Professor Norman Jones, the author’s adviser at MIT, suggested to him in December 2021 and why he utilizes the VGT tools from physics and engineering to conduct his medical research work since then. From 1980 to 1981, the author attended a college in California for his MBA degree, emphasizing finance and marketing. In addition, he spent many years managing a successful high-tech semiconductor business in Silicon Valley, where it involved many key factors of economics and finance, such as gross domestic product (GDP), inflation rate, consumer price index (CPI), NASDAQ stock performance, price/earnings ratio (P/E ratio), various investment decisions, return on investments (ROI), etc. As a result, he has a strong background in money topics associated with finance and economics. In addition, during the 9 years from 2002 to 2010, he self-studied psychology and established 4 psychotherapy centers to take care of 200+ abused women and abandoned children. Therefore, he has accumulated a considerable amount of knowledge on psychological behaviors, especially in the field of clinical psychology of abused victims. During his recent medical research work using the tool of viscoelastic or viscoplastic behavior theory, he suddenly realized a strong similarity between medicine and economics. The behaviors and patterns of economics variables (inputs and outputs) he observed are comparable to the behaviors and patterns of medical variables he studied and researched (causes and symptoms) in terms of their curve shape & waveforms, fluctuation patterns, moving trends, physical behaviors, etc. For example, he has applied the candlestick chart or K-line diagram from Wall Street as an effective glucose representation tool in medicine. Most importantly, variables in both medicine and economics possessed the common “time-dependent” characteristics.

Viscoelastic or viscoplastic glucose theory (VGT #82): An investigation of economics markers versus COVID pandemic markers during 9 quarters from Y2020Q1 to Y2022Q1 based on GH-method: math-physical medicine, especially the VGT energy tool (No. 672)

Beginning with paper No. 578 dated 1/8/2022, the author wrote a total of 80 medical research articles using the viscoelasticity and viscoplasticity theories (VGT) from physics and engineering disciplines on 80 different datasets of chosen medical subjects. These papers aim to explore some hidden biophysical behaviors and provide a quantitative understanding of inter-relationships between a selected medical symptom, i.e. biomarker, and multiple influential factors, “root causes or risk factors”. These hidden biophysical behaviors and possible inter-relationships existed among lifestyles, medical conditions, chronic diseases, and certain severe complications, such as heart attacks, stroke, cancers, dementia, or longevity. All of the chosen subjects with their datasets, multiple symptoms, and risk factors are “time-dependent” which means that all of the biomedical variables are changing from time to time. This is why he utilizes VGT tools from physics and engineering to conduct his medical research work. From 1979 to 1982, the author attended a university for his MBA degree with an emphasis on finance and marketing. He spent many years managing a successful high-tech business in Silicon Valley, where it focused on many economic key factors, such as GDP, inflation, stock market performance, etc. As a result, money, finance, and economics are not unfamiliar subjects to him. During his recent medical research work using the VGT tool, he suddenly realized that there is a similarity between the medical and economic systems. The economic variables (inputs and outputs) are comparable to medical variables he studied (causes and symptoms), e.g. waveforms, fluctuation, trends, etc. Both medical and economic variables have possessed “time-dependent” characteristics. The recent COVID-19 pandemic is a unique and severe experience in the world other than the Spanish flu that happened over 100 years ago. He wondered what kind of impact or inter-relationship existed during the pandemic outcome along with overall economic activities. Therefore, he selects the US gross domestic product (GDP) numbers as the output variable along with the US inflation rates (inflation) and the US COVID-19 death cases (COVID) as two input variables to conduct his math-physical medicine (MPM) analysis using the VGT tool. In summary, he conducted three related VGT studies in this article. The first is the GDP of economics versus the inflation rate and COVID death. The second is the inflation rate of economics versus pandemic death and infection from medicine. The third is COVID death from medicine versus COVID infection from medicine. Mathematically, these studies have similar methodologies (VGT) but with different outcome observations and interpretations. Initially, he Googled national data on economics and COVID. However, it should be mentioned that the COVID data are rough estimates directly from the published charts from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and Johns Hopkins University. The COVID data are simplified with rounded numbers to thousands for death and millions for infection because the precise digits do not change the physical characteristics of VGT analysis results. Next, he searched and reviewed a few economics articles related to GDP, inflation, consumer price index (CPI), etc. Over the past 2+ years, due to his medical research interest, he was exposed to the news, many articles, and published research papers and clinical data regarding the COVID pandemic. This study is of particular interest to him since it links national economics with a severe infectious disease. This article is his first attempt to link COVID deaths with some important economic measurements, specifically GDP and inflation rate. The established theory of viscoelasticity and viscoplasticity (from the physics branch of science) should

Paradoxical yet Consistent: How Leaders Maintain Behavioral Integrity When Pursuing Paradoxical Obj

Leaders are under increasing pressure to recognize, attend to, and ultimately reconcile paradoxes in organizations. This creates the need to balance and simultaneously pursue priorities that reflect different values. While the extant literature suggests that it can be beneficial for leaders to pursue paradoxical objectives, our paper highlights an underappreciated challenge: when leaders are paradoxical, they may send conflicting signals about what they value. When observed by followers, these conflicting signals can lead to the perception that the leader is low in behavioral integrity, causing followers to experience conflict in their own values in the workplace. Furthermore, we propose that these negative implications are mitigated when leaders reduce their own values conflict. Our predictions are supported by two complimentary empirical studies. The first study features a multi-level field study with a sample from executive MBA students, and the second is a survey study featuring multi-wave, multi-level data from a retail company.

Does Increased Labor Market Demand Affect CEO Compensation? Evidence from a Natural Experiment

This study investigates whether and to what extent a demand increase in the CEO labor market affects CEO compensation. Prior literature has largely focused on internal determinants of CEO compensation (e.g., CEO- and firm-level factors contributing to CEO compensation); yet relatively little is known about the role of external market demand on CEO compensation. Using the sudden deaths of CEOs between 1997 and 2019 as a natural experiment that generates the positive demand shock for industry peer CEOs, I conduct coarsened exact matching combined with a difference-in-differences analysis to identify the causal effects of the sudden CEO deaths at a firm on the total compensation of industry peer CEOs. As predicted, the results show a significant increase in industry peer CEOs’ compensation following the sudden CEO deaths. I also find that this effect is stronger when an industry peer CEO has an outsider origin and holds an MBA degree. These findings contribute to the literature by identifying the role of the CEO labor market on CEO compensation.

Moderna’s Spikevax: a prickly pricing decision

Research methodology The case was compiled using secondary research, including the following sources, all of which are cited in the References List section of the case: Company annual reports, press releases and company websites and news media, podcasts, video recordings, websites of trade associations and other public domain sources. Case overview/synopsis This case highlights the decisions facing Moderna, Inc. (Moderna) related to pricing of its COVID-19 vaccine in the European Union (EU) in July of 2021. The CEO, Stéphane Bancel, must balance the need for improving shareholder returns with the call to act responsibly during a global pandemic. Should Moderna raise prices or hold prices constant? What other options might be available to the CEO? Complexity academic level At the authors’ institute, instructors use this case in a second-year marketing elective in pricing at the MBA level. Within the elective, the case enables a discussion on concepts of value realization through pricing and leadership decision strategies. The case may also be used in at the Executive MBA level, in a course of strategic leadership.

Viscoelastic or Viscoplastic Theory (VGT #84): A Comparison Study of the Influences on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Inflation Rate, and Consumer Price Index (CPI) in the USA Resulting from Consumer Psychological Reactions and Spending Behavior Changes over 9-Quarters During the COVID-19 Pandemic Period from Y2020Q1 to Y2022Q1 Based on GH-Method: MathPhysical Medicine, Especially the VGT Energy Tool (No. 674)

The author is a mathematician and engineer who has conducted medical research work over the past 13 years. Thus far, he has written 670 medical research papers. Beginning with paper No. 578 dated 1/8/2022, he wrote a total of 80 medical research articles using the viscoelasticity and viscoplasticity theories (VGT) from physics and engineering disciplines on 80 different medical problems with their associated data. These papers aim to explore some hidden biophysical behaviors and provide a quantitative understanding of the inter-relationships of a selected medical output (symptom) versus either singular input or multiple inputs (root causes, risk factors, or influential inputs). The hidden biophysical behaviors and possible inter-relationships exist among lifestyle details, medical conditions, chronic diseases, and certain severe medical complications, such as heart attacks, stroke, cancers, dementia, and even longevity concerns. The chosen medical subjects with their asso- ciated data, multiple symptoms, and influential factors are “time-dependent” which means that all biomedical variables change from time to time because body living cells are dynamically changing. This is what Profes- sor Norman Jones, the author’s adviser at MIT, suggested to him in December 2021 and why he utilizes the VGT tools from physics and engineering to conduct his medical research work since then. From 1980 to 1981, the author attended a college in California for his MBA degree, emphasizing finance and marketing. In addition, he spent many years managing a successful high-tech semiconductor business in Silicon Valley, where it involved many key factors of economics and finance, such as gross domestic product (GDP), inflation rate, consumer price index (CPI), NASDAQ stock performance, price/earnings ratio (P/E ratio), various investment decisions, return on investments (ROI), etc. As a result, he has a strong background in money topics associated with finance and economics.

Viscoelastic or Viscoplastic Glucose Theory (VGT #82): An Investigation of Economics Markers Versus COVID Pandemic Markers During 9 Quarters from Y2020Q1 to Y2022Q1 Based on GH-Method: Math-Physical Medicine, Especially the VGT Energy Tool (No. 672)

The author is a mathematician and engineer who has conducted medical research work over the past 13 years. To date, he has written 672 medical research papers. Beginning with paper No. 578 dated 1/8/2022, he has written a total of 80 medical research articles using the viscoelasticity and viscoplasticity theories (VGT) from physics and engineering disciplines on 80 different medical problems with their associated data. These papers aim to explore some hidden biophysical behaviors and provide a quantitative understanding of the inter-relationships of a selected medical output (symptom) versus singular input or multiple inputs (root causes, risk factors, or influential inputs). The hidden biophysical behaviors and possible inter-relationships exist among lifestyle details, medical conditions, chronic diseases, and certain severe medical complications, such as heart attacks, stroke, cancers, dementia, and even longevity concerns. All of these chosen medical subjects with their associated data, multiple symptoms, and influential factors are “time-dependent” which means that all of these biomedical variables are changing from time to time because body cells are dynamically changing. This is what Professor Norman Jones, the author’s adviser at MIT, suggested to him in December of 2021 and why he utilizes the VGT tools from physics and engineering to conduct his medical research work since then. From 1980 to 1981, the author attended a college in California for his MBA degree, emphasizing finance and marketing. In addition, he spent many years managing a successful high-tech semiconductor business in Silicon Valley, where it involved many key factors of economics and finance, such as gross domestic product (GDP), inflation rate, stock performance, price/earnings ratio (P/E ratio), investment decisions, return on investments (ROI), etc. As a result, the money subjects associated with finance and economics are familiar subjects to him.

Comparing online retail loyalty segments of Indian Gen Z buyers

PurposeGeneration Z (Gen Z) is particularly influenced by digital technologies as this cohort is found to have grown up with technology forming the pivot of most of their routine activities. Owing to the huge potential of this market, online retailers are keen to build and sustain their loyalty. Shopper’s loyalty varies across age, gender, income, service quality perceptions, etc. of customers. This study aims to show that it is necessary to identify distinct consumer segments of these shoppers which can enable online retailers to fine tune their marketing programs and increase program effectiveness.Design/methodology/approachUsing a sample of 700 students pursuing Masters in Business Administration (553 usable responses) from two state universities in North India, data have been collected with reference to accessories, clothes, books and electronic goods. SPSS and AMOS have been used to analyse data using cluster analysis and multinomial logit (MNL) regression analysis.FindingsThe results of cluster analysis reveal that these shoppers can be clustered into three segments, namely disloyal shoppers (DS), staunch loyals (SL) and vacillating shoppers (VS) on the basis of their online retail loyalty. The odds ratio reveals that less frequent online shoppers are less likely to be VS or DS than being SL shoppers. People who experience flow while surfing online shopping websites are 3.260 times more likely to be VS than being SL. Further, service quality decreases the odds of a shopper acting as a VS in comparison to SL shopper by 0.113.Research limitations/implicationsThese findings would help marketers identify strategies that can transform the VS or the disloyal ones into loyal and profitable segments. The present study is limited to Gen Z shoppers and so results may vary for customers belonging to other age groups.Originality/valueThe study contributes to existing literature by understanding the antecedents which contribute to online retail loyalty of distinct segments of young shoppers.

Robust non-radial data envelopment analysis models under data uncertainty

Russell measure (RM) and enhanced Russell measure (ERM) are popular non-radial measures for efficiency assessment of decision-making units (DMUs) in data envelopment analysis (DEA). Input and output data of both original RM and ERM are assumed to be deterministic. However, this assumption may not be valid in some situations because of data uncertainty arising from measurement errors, data staleness, and multiple repeated measurements. Interval DEA (IDEA) has been proposed to measure the interval efficiencies from the optimistic and pessimistic viewpoints while the robustness of the assessment is questionable. This paper draws on a class of robust optimisation models to surmount uncertainty with a high degree of robustness in the RM and ERM models. The contribution of this paper is fivefold; (1) we develop new robust non-radial DEA models to measure the robust efficiency of DMUs under data uncertainty, which are adjustable based upon conservatism levels, (2) we use Monte-Carlo simulation in an attempt to identify an appropriate range for the budget of uncertainty in terms of the highest conformity of ranking results, (3) we introduce the concept of the price of robustness to scrutinise the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed models, (4) we compare the developed robust models in this paper with other existing approaches, both radial and non-radial models, and (5) we explore an application to assess the efficiency of the Master of Business Administration (MBA) programmes where data uncertainties influence the quality and reliability of results.

Knowledge management initiatives for achieving sustainable development goal 4.7: higher education institutions’ stakeholder perspectives

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore knowledge management (KM) initiatives for achieving sustainable development goal (SDG) 4.7 and to investigate enablers and barriers to insert KM to prepare higher education institutions (HEIs) ready to contribute to SDGs’ performance. At the end, this paper provides a practical perspective of KM initiatives for higher education for sustainable development (HESD).Design/methodology/approachThis is an exploratory study. It applies a descriptive-interpretative-qualitative approach. The analysis is based on the opinions collected from 170 HEIs’ stakeholders. Discussions among participants have been organized through zoom meetings, telephone interviews and focus group discussions in three phases. In the first phase, a total of 113 informants took part in the discussion on various dates. In the second phase, 10 interviews were conducted with university officials using three open-ended questions; and in the third phase, three focus group discussions were organized to interact about the effectiveness of the Masters in Business Administration in Global Leadership and Management programme and curriculum with teachers, students and the programme initiators.FindingsFrom the analysis of stakeholders’ views, it appears that Nepalese HEIs have yet to move forward with integrating KM activities into their aims, structure and functions to address the government’s policy guidelines applicable to maximizing SDG’ performance. A KM cultural framework that values intellectual capital is urgently needed to fill the knowledge-doing gap for the benefit of society. HEIs appear to require multidisciplinary teaching, learning and research methods to play a civic role in society. They have to improve their rules and regulation, develop a boundary-spanning structure from a conventional structure and apply KM initiatives to support achieving SDGs’ performance. Understanding and inculcating these initiatives in the academic programmes could provide a value-adding higher education in the country.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper is entirely based on the perspectives of stakeholders in higher education. So, understanding their points of view and perspectives may have resulted in vague explanations. Furthermore, because the setting of Nepal’s HEIs differs from that of developed countries, the results should only be interpreted in Nepalese contexts.Practical implicationsThis paper acknowledges the gaps and complexities in Nepalese HEIs from the standpoints of HEIs’ leaders, teachers and students for the application of KM initiatives to reform HEIs, with HESD in consideration, and enhance SDGs’ performance.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, the paper is the first of its kind in the context of Nepal, exploring KM initiatives for SDGs. It provides a new perspective on KM and comprehends KM initiatives in the case of Nepalese HEIs transformation into HESD for achieving SDG 4.7.

HOW STUDENTS TAKE THE PRESSURE FOR ACHIEVING COMMENDABLE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE: A CASE STUDY ON GRADUATE LEVEL STUDENTS

This study is created on the basis of generating the answer about ‘How students take the pressure for achieving commendable academic performance” .The major purpose of the study was to investigate about, what extent, students take academic pressure and how they can overcome that pressure by taking multiple factors into consideration which might be the reason of stress. In addition, this research also explored different perspectives by taking more than one area of study to find out that either different study area possesses a high or low level of stress due to their different nature of the study. This research utilized qualitative method by taking case study approach to investigate the study by conducting data through properly listening the interviews, making transcriptions and observations of two final year students/participants belong to the two different study areas like; Master in Business Administration and Doctor of Pharmacy. Coding and theme, data analysis method was adapted for analyzing the data. The results showed that the students are neither pressurized by the family nor by the monetary investment, but they even take workload in a positive way and one of them take failure as a challenge but other student might get dishearted if suffered from the same thing. Though multiple new factors were also emerged during the analysis, which highlighted that the students have academic stress, but it can be overcomed by taking it as a challenge and investing more hardwork and motivation to it.

The Effect of Smart University Characteristic on Entrepreneurial Orientation of Students: The Mediating Role of Knowledge Sharing

Smart university is a new concept in education. The characteristic and impact of this university on creating entrepreneurial oriented community has not received adequate attention in the context of developing countries. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of smart university characteristics (course quality, staff capability, and infrastructure) on entrepreneurial orientation (EO). Knowledge sharing between industry and university is proposed as a mediator. This study is a quantitative and it collects the data using a questionnaire. The data collection took place between April 2020 to August 2020. The data was collected from 279 master of business administration (MBA) graduates and students in Iraq. The data analysis was conducted using smart partial least square (Smart PLS). The findings showed that the effect of smart university characteristics are significant. In addition, knowledge sharing mediated the effect of the characteristics, except infrastructure, on EO. More attention has to be paid to the employment of skilful staff and to focus on the relationship between university and industry.

The Costs, Quality, and Scalability of Blended Learning in Postgraduate Management Education

With its combination of online and face-to-face interaction, blended learning is increasingly being employed in postgraduate education. To date, most empirical research on the topic has focused on the design and relative effectiveness of online versus in-person learning. Meanwhile, any exploration of the costs of its delivery has often been neglected. In this study, we propose a framework to assess the costs and cost-effectiveness of alternative designs of blended postgraduate programs, and then empirically apply it to an innovative blended Master of Business Administration (MBA) course as compared with similar MBAs taught at the same institution, with the differences lying in their proportions of online content and the intensity of their use. We applied the Community of Inquiry framework to show that the program with the most intensive use of online learning is also the most effective in terms of student cognitive gain. However, it is not the most cost-effective when compared to other, less online-intensive alternatives. We also found that this result depends on the scalability constraints imposed by the design of the programs. The implications of the scalability versus the quality versus the costs of blended education are then discussed.

President Director Age, MBA Degree, and Earnings Management

This study aimed to examine the effect of president director’s characteristics (i.e., age and MBA degree) on earnings management. This study used accrual earnings management with abnormal accruals as a proxy and real activity earnings management with abnormal discretionary expense as a proxy for earnings management. The population is all manufacturing companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange between 2016 and 2019. The sample was selected based on the purposive sampling method, so that the companies sampled were 91 companies with a total of 364 observations. The data analysis method used is multiple regression analysis. These results find that age has a negatively significant effect on abnormal accruals and has not significant effect on abnormal discretionary expense. An MBA degree as a proxy for education has a positively significant effect on earnings management. Our results are consistent with the predictions of the upper echelons theory and have implications for various stakeholders, as well as providing insight for regulators in determining the qualifications or requirements to become president director