Sustained Motivation Research Articles

Features of practical training of students (future social teachers) at universities

The main purpose of the article is to study the features and prospects of practical training of students (future social teachers) at universities. At the present stage, pedagogical education in each country, while maintaining the acquired national experience, is being reformed and is gradually entering the world educational space. The training of specialists for the socio-pedagogical sphere at universities began relatively recently. In this regard, and the specifics of the process of formation and development of the profession, the practical training of social teachers is focused on the formation of the necessary professional skills, the formation of sustainable motivation for active professional activity. In the process of professional growth and development of the competence of a social pedagogue, socio-pedagogical practice is inferior in its significance, perhaps, only directly to the practical activity itself. This type of practical training, along with the theoretical aspects of training, provides the student-trainee not only with practical skills, but also with individual, long-term consultations - conversations with a mentor. As a result of the study, the main aspects of the practical training of students (future social teachers) at universities were identified.

Transformational Processes in the Activity System and in the Educator/Designer through Design Procedure under CHAT

This study analyses the role of design procedures under Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) in the system of the activity and in the educator/designer’s professional and personal skills. Our effort has come as metacognitive outcome of a research that took place at a Contemporary Art Museum and in a classroom for students (11 years old). The purpose of the initial research was to highlight how an educational program under CHAT in a Contemporary Art Museum with the Life Cycle of Materials, as its Object, could affect students’ sustainable literacy, motives and relationships. As a metacognitive process the educator/researcher, who was simultaneously the designer, also studied the transformational processes of all Subjects of the activity system as well as her professional and personal transformations as an internal study for self-literacy. This paper describes trajectories of strategies, interactions, and expansions to the activity system, and puts forward for discussion the use of theoretical tools and epistemological principles of expansive learning for metacognitive analysis. Practical engagements with the theoretical framework of CHAT, came out as an important factor in the development of transformative agency and self-literacy at a professional level.

Current Trends and Issues in Research on Biodiversity Conservation and Tourism Sustainability

The rationale of this article is the need to elicit the trending themes relevant to the latest research on biodiversity conservation and tourism sustainability. Hence, the purpose of this study: stocktaking of cutting-edge research articles in this field and eliciting the critical trends and issues shaping the knowledge, future research, and technical development perspectives on biodiversity conservation and tourism sustainability. The focus is on the trends, which are pivotal for achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals until 2030. A hierarchical cluster analysis was undertaken with a KH Coder 3.0 tool to elicit topical co-occurrence networks for thematic words in academic papers from 2015 to 2020 on the topic, quarried from Google Scholar. The article’s main findings are the seven identified major trending research themes on biodiversity conservation and tourism sustainability: (1) Community-based tourism development; (2) National Park management for tourism; (3) Sustainable tourist motivation; (4) Biodiversity conservation and ecotourism; (5) Landscape and land use changes; (6) Visitor satisfaction monitoring; and (7) Ecotourism modelling. The article’s main conclusion is that the criteria and conditions for responsible low-key tourism in protected areas, both for biodiversity and local communities, are pivotal factors to consider for future research on biodiversity conservation and tourism sustainability.

Taxonomy of Factors Involved in Decision-Making to Sustain Organization Members’ Creativity

Creativity is highly valued in all areas of life, and it must be supported in the academic environment for the future prosperity of all organizations. This is the primary source of creativity for practice. The research presented is based on answering the following questions: Are an organization’s members willing to increase their motivation if the organization’s motivational efforts improve? What elements in decision-making are used to support the creativity and motivation of the organization’s members? The paper proposes a novel taxonomy of decision-making factors influencing organizations’ sustainable creativity based on linking the findings from the authors’ surveys. Its application will lead to an improvement in the organizations’ processes, especially in the process of education and knowledge generation. The sociological inquiry was used as the main data collection method. Other methods applied included content analysis, practical cases analysis, and comparison. Methods of mathematical-statistical analysis and deductive-inductive approach were used in the evaluation. This resulted in the confirmation of the impact of creative decision-making approaches by employees and managers on sustainable motivation and creativity in the organization. The taxonomy of decision-making factors for the support of sustainable creativity reflects the results of this original research combined with the findings summarized in the discussion.

Why buy used clothing during the pandemic? Examining the impact of COVID-19 on consumers’ secondhand fashion consumption motivations

ABSTRACT While many fashion brands and retailers are struggling amidst the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers’ secondhand fashion consumption (SFC) is accelerating as an alternative to new clothing purchases. Despite the growing importance of the resale market and the impact of the pandemic on consumer behavior, a comprehensive picture of SFC amid the pandemic has yet to be researched. The purpose of this study is to examine how the impact of the pandemic influences the relationships among consumers’ motivations, attitudes, and intentions toward SFC. By applying the theory of reasoned action, consumers’ motivations (e.g., sustainability, social, variety-seeking, fun-seeking, cost-saving dimensions) behind SFC intentions between high vs. low pandemic impact groups are studied. Through the online survey with 467 participants from South Korea, our study demonstrates that consumers are motivated to engage in SFC for different reasons depending on the impact of the pandemic on their daily lives. While cost-saving and social motivations were significant drivers for the high-impact group, the attitudes of the low-impact group were mainly influenced by sustainability and variety-seeking motivations. Study findings and implications are discussed, and future research directions are suggested.

The Role of Community in Understanding Involvement in Community Energy Initiatives.

Community energy initiatives are set up by volunteers in local communities to promote sustainable energy behaviors and help to facilitate a sustainable energy transition. A key question is what motivates people to be involved in such initiatives. We propose that next to a stronger personal motivation for sustainable energy, people’s perception that their community is motivated to engage in sustainable energy and their involvement in the community (i.e., community identification and interpersonal contact) may affect their initiative involvement. We tested this proposition with a questionnaire study among inhabitants of seven local communities (N = 439). Results suggested that community factors are uniquely related to initiative involvement (willingness to actively participate and attendance of an initiative meeting) next to personal sustainable energy motivations. In particular, stronger community identification and more interpersonal contact with other community members increased the likelihood that people become involved in a community initiative, but the perception of the sustainable energy motivation of one’s community was not uniquely related to initiative involvement. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

Rethinking Language Education in the US – A New Paradigm for Language Educators, Advocates, and Stakeholders

In a globalized and interconnected world, language skills are more important than ever, yet US students lag behind those in many countries, and foreign language enrollment has declined, especially at the elementary and postsecondary levels. In order to build language skills in the US, it is necessary not only to embrace interdisciplinary collaborations, but also partnerships with communities. However, in addition to developing sustainable interest in languages and cultures and sustainable motivation for language learning, it is also necessary to address the issues of accessibility and affordability. Accessibility issues include availability of both in-person and online programs, and affordability includes fees and tuition at all levels, including after-school and weekend programs, and summer camps. Online learning and community partnerships, along with increased funding, play a vital role in make language learning accessible and affordable for all interested students. A language advocacy partnership among all stakeholders can play a significant role in resolving accessibility and affordability issues and making language learning available to all.

Crisis in Modern teaching: What went wrong?

Crisis in modern teaching is examined as a result of an inflow of the new generations of university students in the 2010s. This crisis is reflected in demolition of traditional text culture, progressing rejection of the cultural capital passive accumulation, emergence of the alternative educational programs, new requirements to the teaching materials, increasing difficulties in keeping attention of the students, erosion of their sustainable motivation, noticeable decline of the teachers’ authority, persistent attempts to question the assessment systems, spread of new ethic, and strengthening of students’ intentions to defend their rights.

Robust and Efficient Online Auditory Psychophysics.

Most human auditory psychophysics research has historically been conducted in carefully controlled environments with calibrated audio equipment, and over potentially hours of repetitive testing with expert listeners. Here, we operationally define such conditions as having high ‘auditory hygiene’. From this perspective, conducting auditory psychophysical paradigms online presents a serious challenge, in that results may hinge on absolute sound presentation level, reliably estimated perceptual thresholds, low and controlled background noise levels, and sustained motivation and attention. We introduce a set of procedures that address these challenges and facilitate auditory hygiene for online auditory psychophysics. First, we establish a simple means of setting sound presentation levels. Across a set of four level-setting conditions conducted in person, we demonstrate the stability and robustness of this level setting procedure in open air and controlled settings. Second, we test participants’ tone-in-noise thresholds using widely adopted online experiment platforms and demonstrate that reliable threshold estimates can be derived online in approximately one minute of testing. Third, using these level and threshold setting procedures to establish participant-specific stimulus conditions, we show that an online implementation of the classic probe-signal paradigm can be used to demonstrate frequency-selective attention on an individual-participant basis, using a third of the trials used in recent in-lab experiments. Finally, we show how threshold and attentional measures relate to well-validated assays of online participants’ in-task motivation, fatigue, and confidence. This demonstrates the promise of online auditory psychophysics for addressing new auditory perception and neuroscience questions quickly, efficiently, and with more diverse samples. Code for the tests is publicly available through Pavlovia and Gorilla.

«Зелене» управління людськими ресурсами: вплив екологічних практик на діяльність організації

In recent years, business has been increasingly interested in social responsibility, in particular in its environmental component. To implement environmental programs, organizations need employees who have «green» knowledge, share «green» values and have a worldview on protecting the environment, which requires the implementation of green practices in human resource management. The purpose of the study is to assess the impact of the practices of «green» human resource management on various aspects of the organization. The results of the study showed that the vast majority (95.1%) of respondents share the idea of the need to implement green practices in human resource management. The introduction of «green» human resource management practices has the greatest impact on the organization’s reputation and the employer’s brand. In this regard, when positioning the organization in the labor market and the market for goods (services), it is important to focus on environmental practices and sustainable corporate culture. The results of the study also justified the positive impact of the practices of «green» human resource management on the formation of environmentally responsible behavior of employees, the implementation of sustainable development goals, motivation and loyalty of employees, and labor results. The study justified the need for organizations to develop policies and strategies for «green» human resource management, the introduction of green practices at different stages of human resource management, the formation of a sustainable corporate culture. The results of the study can be used by organizations to substantiate the feasibility of introducing green practices in human resource management.

Pedagogical conditions for the formation of patriotic ideals of students of agricultural institutions of professional pre-higher education

The article emphasizes the need to improve existing and find new means of national and patriotic education of youth. The purpose of the study is to identify and substantiate the pedagogical conditions for the formation of patriotic ideals of students of agricultural institutions of professional pre-higher education. For the effective implementation of the set goal, theoretical (analysis and synthesis of psychological and pedagogical literature on the studied problem, comparison and systematization, generalization of different views) and empirical (expert assessment) methods of scientific and pedagogical research were used. On the basis of the analysis of the scientific works of modern researchers, the content of the concept of «pedagogical conditions for the formation of patriotic ideals of students of professional pre-higher education» is clarified, which should be understood as a set of specially reasoned and organized circumstances and directions of pedagogical activity, which collectively ensure the success of solving the tasks and effectiveness of the process of formation of students' patriotic ideals. Using the method of expert evaluation, the following pedagogical conditions were identified: formation of sustainable motivation of future farmers for self-education of national and patriotic qualities and values; formation of the readiness of mentors of academic groups of agricultural institutions of professional pre-higher education for patriotic education; using the educational potential of social and humanitarian disciplines in the formation of patriotic ideals of agricultural students; ensuring the activity of students in the process of organizing and conducting extracurricular activities of a patriotic nature. Theoretical substantiation of the identified pedagogical conditions was carried out.

Hungarian entrepreneurs’ sustainability motivations based on GEM 2021 results

Sustainability and its economic impacts are a leading topic both in theory and practice. The role of SMEs in reaching SDGs is prominent as the vast majority of companies belong to this sector, SMEs play a fundamental role in employment and their value added is growing. Their motivations towards sustainability issues are mixed: some of them are related to business case and others are connected to the moral obligations towards social and environmental issues. Different motivational factors cannot be distinctly compartmentalized or prioritised, but all of them have an impact on sustainability actions and performance of SMEs. In this study we present an analysis of potential connections of enterprises’ demographic features (especially their age) and their motivations towards sustainability, based on the Hungarian database of the GEM-APS-2021 survey. We have found that the age of enterprises and the main motivational factor have a significant impact on sustainability orientation: start-ups are the most likely to take environmental and social responsibility even at the expense of profit and their motive of making a change in the world has a significant and positive correlation with sustainability considerations.

A study on challenges faced by entrepreneurs in the 21st century

An entrepreneur is a person who plays a key role in any economic growth of a country. Mostly an entrepreneur can be regarded as a person who has the initiative, skill and motivation to set up a business or an enterprise of his own and who always looks for high achievement. He acts as promoter of social change and come up with an idea to produce goods and services. He looks for opportunities, identifies them and grabs them mainly for economic improvements. His motive is to earn profit through the production or distribution of socially beneficial goods or services. He is enriched with the inborn qualities of adventurism,willingness to face risks, innovative urge and creativity and is eager to make dynamic changes in the production process, introduce innovations and to find out new uses for raw materials. But now there are so many challenges faced by new entrepreneurs i.e., lack of sustained motivation, lack of patience in solving problems, Inability to dream and use subconscious etc. The main objectives of the study are to identify the challenges faced by the new entrepreneurs and to analyze the measures to overcome them.

State Incentives and Sustainable Motivation System in the Health Sector

Now that the pandemic has entered the second phase, in which countries are adapting to the crisis, governments need to determine incentives that will contribute to the sustainability of the health system and human health. Regarding this, human resources are a significant factor, which affects the sustainability of any system, and it is important to establish a relevant motivation system that will withstand the challenges that society will face in the coming period. The aim of this paper is to analyse three dimensions of state incentives (employment program, COVID-19 bonus, training opportunities) and to examine their influence on healthcare workers’ motivation and the sustainability of the health system in the Republic of Serbia. The empirical research was conducted on a sample of 207 respondents employed in the tertiary level of healthcare. Data analysis included exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM). The research results confirmed the existence of all three incentives and indicated that state incentive “training opportunities” has the strongest effect on the motivation of health workers and the sustainability of the healthcare system.

Beyond ethics: The transformational power of overlapping motivations in implementing strategic sustainability actions

AbstractWe develop a methodology to identify patterns between sustainability motivations, actions and engagement. We apply this methodology to analyse a 3 1/2‐year intervention that yielded 151 sustainability actions undertaken by 46 outbound tour operators. We find three aspects that can be explained by the tour operators' motivations to act sustainably, namely, a connection between: (i) the actions taken in the context of the organisation's business model, (ii) the intensity of the approach, measured by the resources invested in it and the operator's commitment level and (iii) the evolution of the response. These patterns demonstrate how ethical motivations are common and a precondition to acting sustainably, but, in themselves, these motivations are not sufficient to integrate sustainability practices into the core business or to maintain commitment over time. It is the combination of a high ethical commitment with clear strategic intent, materialised in commercial and operational motivations, that increases the connectedness, and intensity, of sustainability actions amongst ethically committed firms.

Managing Sustainable Microfinance Institutions In The Covid-19 Situation Through Revitalizing Balinese Cultural Identity

Managing microfinance institutions in Bali, Indonesia, is very dependent on the philosophy of culture of harmony as a guide for people to live in harmony with other people and the environment around them. This basis makes microfinance institutions stronger compared to other microfinance institutions in Indonesia. However, the current COVID-19 pandemic situation has paralyzed Bali’s economy, prompting company leaders to look inward and outward to keep the business running sustainably. The main purpose of this study is to analyze a comprehensive and broader view of how companies identify the drive for sustainability without eliminating practices and values that are following the culture of the Balinese people of Indonesia. Experimental data were obtained from native Balinese as influential corporate leaders and executive agencies. The results show that responsive leadership is the leading force in dealing with the Covid-19 problem from an internal approach. On the other hand, from an external point of view, the main determining factor is the difference in the company’s ability to make it difficult for the government to handle problems. This research combines both companies with internal and external motivations for sustainability and how cultural values influence sustainability drives. This is based on cultural identity having a strategic role in microfinance institutions in Bali. Therefore steps are needed to revitalize a culture of harmony related to strategy formulation and implementation in microfinance institutions to gain competitive advantage and organizational performance. © 2021, SRAC - Romanian Society for Quality. All rights reserved.

Impact of Sustainable HRM Practices on Employee Performance: A Study of Employees in a Selected Private Sector Company in Sri Lanka

Private sector plays a distinct role in Sri Lankan economy at the present context. Lack of employee performance is one of the major challenging problems faced by the private sector organizations. Private sector organizations incur a huge investment on improving employee performances and introduce novel HRM practices in order to improve employee performance. Sustainable HRM is also such a novel concept aimed at improving employee performance with sustainable outcomes. The major objective of conducting this study is to investigate current sustainable HRM practices and to identify the impact of those sustainable HRM practices on employee performance in one of the leading broiler companies in Sri Lanka. Based on the objectives of the study, semi structured questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample of 100 employees through simple random sampling and the collected data was analyzed descriptively and statistically. Sustainable recruitment and selection, sustainable training and development and sustainable motivation and rewards were considered as the major factors to identify the existing sustainable HRM practices in the company and to test the willingness of employees for implementing sustainable HRM practices. Findings of the study reveal that all the selected sustainable HRM practices were existed within the company and employees were willing to practice, except the practices which are related with advanced technology. In case of impact identification of sustainable HRM practices on employee performance, sustainable recruitment and selection have a significant negative impact. Sustainable motivation and rewards have a significant positive impact on employee performance. In case of identifying the constraints for practicing sustainable HRM practices in the company, lack of knowledge was identified as the most affecting constraint. Consequently, the results of this study may give policy implications for the company to enhance employee performance with sustainable HRM practices while expanding existing literature on sustainable HRM in Sri Lankan context.
 Keywords: Employee performance, Sustainable HRM, Sustainable motivation and rewards, Sustainable recruitment and selection, Sustainable training and development

FORMATION OF A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE IN STUDENTS AS A SOCIAL IMPORTANT PROBLEM OF THE STATE

According to the views of modern researchers, a healthy lifestyle, as the basis for the development of various aspects of life, a characteristic form and method of active participation in social, professional, family and other forms of human life, contributes to the successful fulfillment of social functions and professional tasks. In this regard, the article analyzes the current state of the personal-motivational attitude of students - future specialists to increase and realize their social, physical, mental and physiological potential; reveals the core definitions that determine the semantic content of the concept of "healthy lifestyle" as the main factor in the formation of sustainable motivation for an active life position; reveals the principle of the integrity of the personal and social, the inseparability of the organism and the environment, the interdependence of the biological and social aspects of life. In the formation of a healthy lifestyle for students, the main problem is the weak motivation of its need for their physical, mental, mental and physiological health. The problem of studying the attitude of students to a healthy lifestyle in the conditions of socio-political and economic instability of modern society is very topical, since the quality and success of training qualified, socially adapted specialists, their general cultural and professional development depends on the conscious choice of social and personal values of a healthy lifestyle. The article proves the thesis that students who adhere to a healthy lifestyle, establish a certain relationship between the types of activity (mental, physical, leisure, etc.), better adapt to the functioning of the main physiological processes. An important point of the article is a section describing statistical data on the lifestyle of students, as well as the results of an experimental study to identify the attitude of students of the North Ossetian State University named after K.L. Khetagurov to a healthy lifestyle in general.

Recreational scuba diving as a special form of tourism: lessons from Taiwan

Purpose Recreational scuba diving is one of the fastest growing tourism industries around the world and has become a popular activity in Taiwan. Few studies focus on enduring involvement with a high risk or difficult activity specialization, so this study aims to explore the causal relationship between enduring involvement and specialization and seeks to explain sustained involvement in scuba diving activity as a recreation specialization. Design/methodology/approach This research selects four diving sites in Taiwan as survey locations, specifically Yeliou, Longdong, Kenting and Green Island. The questionnaire consists of three sections, including demographic information, enduring involvement and specialization. By analyzing the data collected from 810 scuba divers in Taiwan, structural equation modeling is used to examine the causal relationships among the variables. Findings The primary findings of this study are as follows: attraction positively affects divers’ commitment and lifestyle through joy, relaxation and sharing diving experiences; the results indicate that self-expression is associated with past experience of participating in scuba diving activity; and centrality indicates that participants’ daily life and recreation are related to each other and become central to their life. Results show that most theoretical hypotheses are supported, but there is no significant evidence of attraction impacting past experience or self-expression influencing commitment and lifestyle. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine the causal influence of enduring involvement and specialization in the scuba diving context. The findings provide a solid theoretical basis for the study of sustained involvement motivation and behavior on specialization. Implications and recommendations for future research are discussed.

A smart city application: A waste collection system with long range wide area network for providing green environment and cost effective and low power consumption solutions

The trend towards cities and urbanisation, which increases the number of people living in urban areas, requires local authorities to provide services and natural resources more efficiently and effectively and develop some strategies for a sustainable environment. The more effective use of resources, growing awareness of sustainable environment, climate confidence and motivation to make cities more livable is a new concept called Smart City. In this study, the proposed system supports the garbage collection of the city government and works with low budget, low energy, and free radio frequencies. The Internet of Things (IoT) sensor node is assembled, and the network is set up based on the long range wide area network protocol to connect it to the sample garbage bin and collect data. Instant data collection by this network is carried out through the IoT and is designed based on the collected data. The goal is to build an ideal system for smart garbage collection in cities and support sustainability in cities by integrating with the city government's information systems. The data received from the sensor nodes and the efficiency of the system were demonstrated for local governments. The main outcome of this research is to develop a practical smart city application with minimal resources and support local governments in their daily work. Moreover, how a low power wide area network communication network with a frequency of 868 MHz works in Istanbul (Turkey) will be investigated further and which alternative to cellular networks is the most suitable for excellent communication in smart cities will be studied.