From Digital Divide to Technostress during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Scoping Review
Andrea SEBERINI, Magde Mohamed NOUR, Miroslava TOKOVSKA
Influence of Parental Experience on Transformational Leadership Behaviour: A Test of Work–Family Enrichment of Male Managers from an Employee Perspective
Bernhard STELLNER
Make it their Decisions, not your Directives: Exploring Required Green Competencies for Employee Ecological Behaviour
Khalid FAROOQ, Mohd Yusoff YUSLIZA, Zikri MUHAMMAD, Nik Hazimah NIK MAT
Outsource or not? An AHP Based Decision Model for Information Security Management
Luka JELOVČAN, Anže MIHELIČ, Kaja PRISLAN
The Interplay of Restaurant SMEs’ Entrepreneurial and Environmental Characteristics, Management of the Requisite Assets, and Operational Efficiency
Tanja PLANINC, Marko KUKANJA, Anja ŽNIDARŠIČ
From Digital Divide to Technostress during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Scoping Review
Andrea SEBERINI
Faculty of Economics, Department of Economics, Banska Bystrica, Slovakia
Magde Mohamed NOUR
Kristiania University College, School of Health Sciences, Department of Health and Exercise, Oslo, Norway
Miroslava TOKOVSKA
Kristiania University College, School of Health Sciences, Department of Health and Exercise, Oslo, Norway
Background/Purpose: This paper relates challenges faced by older adult employees during the COVID-19 crisis in order to describe strategies to reduce the digital divide and technostress, thereby supporting inclusion and retention in the marketplace. Older adults are particularly at risk of Internet-related social exclusion, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The main research question of the current scoping review were: What kind of strategies can reduce the digital divide and technostress of older adult employees and contribute to their inclusion and retention in the working market during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Methodology: This review is based on the Arksey and O’Malley framework for scoping reviews. The six-stage framework includes: identifying research questions, identifying relevant studies, study selection, charting the data, summarizing and reporting the results, and a consultation exercise. A scoping review was conducted using five humanistic and social electronic databases – CINAHL with full text, EBSCO, Medline, SocIndex, Web of Science – and additionally hand-searches performed on Google Scholar. The search was limited to studies published from January 2020 to March 2021. After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, 10 articles were included. Results: This review shows that the most important strategies are: 1) ICT educational training courses; 2) social dialog; 3) building inclusive workplaces; 4) implementation of successful ‘aging in public’ policies. Our results are beneficial for individuals, organizations, industries and different societies by showing how concrete strategies can be implemented at multiple levels. Conclusion: The study has found that one of the most effective strategies to reduce the digital divide faced by older adult employees during the COVID-19 crisis and technostress is social dialog between employers and employees, which can be a source of innovative and creative solutions (e.g. partnership programs or tailored support). Social dialog should include active cooperation with older adult workers – asking what they need and want – to enable skills development through training.
Keywords: COVID-19, Digital divide, Older adult, Employees, Technostress
Influence of Parental Experience on Transformational Leadership Behaviour: A Test of Work–Family Enrichment of Male Managers from an Employee Perspective
Bernhard STELLNER
Faculty of Management and Economics, Mendel University Brno, Czech Republic
Background/Purpose: When a male leader becomes a father, changes in his transformational leadership behaviour occur due to shifted priorities, role expectations and resource transfer between domains. Work–life enrichment research acknowledges the positive overall effects of fatherhood on overall transformational leadership behaviours. Our quantitative study contributes to existing knowledge by analysing the perception of behavioural changes of leaders from the employees’ view. The results are matched with previous studies to assess differences of perception between leaders and employees. Methods: Our research uses a granular, detailed definition of transformational leadership. Based on a sample of 139 respondents, we test the positive effects of fatherhood on leadership performance with Wilcoxon signed rank sum tests. Results: 13 out of 15 transformational leadership behaviours improve significantly with fatherhood. We find that leaders and employees view change differently. Employees perceive improvement similarly in terms of direction, but it is less pronounced in terms of magnitude. Moreover, we find that well rated leaders tend to benefit the most from fatherhood, at least from the perspective of their employees. Males perceive higher levels of improvement than females, which we attribute to a gender empathy bias. Conclusion: Our study confirms work–family enrichment theory and the positive effects of fatherhood on transformational leadership behaviour. Nevertheless, we show that not all involved parties perceive behavioural changes conformably.
Background/Purpose: A growing body of evidence confirms that employee ecological behaviour (EEB) is the most critical factor indicating organisational competitive advantage and environmental performance. The present study identifies and explores the green competencies required at the workplace to perform ecological behaviour. No prior study has explored the required green competencies from employees at the workplace in higher education institutions to the researchers’ knowledge. Design/Methodology/Approach: The research utilises the data generated from eighteen comprehensive interviews with the top five Malaysian green universities’ employees. The study adopted the content analysis approach to explore contextually relevant competencies required for EEB in the workplace. Results: Six main green competencies, namely environmental awareness, environmental attitude, environmental knowledge, environmental consciousness, green mindfulness, and green ability, were generated from the analysis supporting ecological behaviour at the workplace. Conclusion: This research explored the required green competencies of employees to be environmental-friendly in the workplace by investigating the previously neglected domain required in the workplace. The research offers practical implications to universities and human resources (HR) to adopt accountabilities for an organisation to be environmentally sustainable. The recruitment committee and top management of higher education institutions should accentuate an environmental stance and green competencies in job descriptions to entice applicants with an environment- friendly mentality.
Keywords: Green competencies, Employee ecological behaviour, Higher education institutions, Green universities, Employee green behaviour
Background/Purpose: Outsourcing information security has proven to be an efficient solution for information security management; however, it may not be the most suitable approach for every organization. This research aimed to develop a multi-criteria decision-making model that would enable organizations to determine which approach to information security management (outsourcing or internal management) is more suitable for their needs and capabilities. Methods: Our study utilized several different research methods. First, the decision criteria were identified by reviewing related work and then selected by information security experts in a focus group. Second, a survey was conducted among information security practitioners to assign the criteria weights. Third, four use cases were conducted with four real-world organizations to assess the usability, ease of use, and usefulness of the developed model. Results: We developed a ten-criteria model based on the analytic hierarchy process. The survey results promote performance-related criteria as more important than efficiency-focused criteria. Evidence from use cases proves that the decision model is useful and appropriate for various organizations. Conclusion: To make informed decisions on approaching information security management, organizations must first conduct a thorough analysis of their capabilities and needs and investigate potential external contractors. In such a case, the proposed model can serve as a useful support tool in the decision-making process to obtain clear recommendations tailored to factual circumstances.
SMEs are subject to different factors in the business environments that influence their business performance. Considering the importance of restaurants’ environmental characteristics, entrepreneurs can also, through their entrepreneurial characteristics, influence SMEsʼ management of the requisite assets (MRA). Accordingly, this study examines the influence of restaurant SMEs’ entrepreneurial (self-efficacy, orientation, and demographics) and environmental (location, size, and competition) characteristics on MRA and, consequently, on SMEs’ operational efficiency. Methods: Primary data relating to the environmental (location, size, and competition) and entrepreneurial (self-efficacy, orientation, and demographic) characteristics were obtained using a survey questionnaire, while the secondary data were obtained from SMEs’ official financial reports. The sample consists of 266 restaurant SMEs in the Republic of Slovenia. Efficiency was analysed using data envelopment analysis (DEA), and structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to test the research model. Results: The results indicate that environmental characteristics have a much more significant impact on MRA than entrepreneurial characteristics. Entrepreneurial self-efficacy and most demographic characteristics (age, gender, education, and experience) proved not to influence significantly MRA and, consequently, SMEs’ operational efficiency. Conclusion: SMEs’ external environment is generally not directly influenced by managerial decisions. Therefore, it is critical to strengthen the influence of the internal environment through an active development of entrepreneurial characteristics, which could result in a more effective MRA and higher efficiency. The conclusion provides suggestions for future research and valuable information for entrepreneurs, academia, and policymakers.
