85 research outputs found
Cultural Intelligence and Social Capital: Investigating expatriates’ working relationships in Malaysia
Get PDFThis thesis examines the effect of Cultural Intelligence on expatriates’ relationship quality with their culturally diverse host national work colleagues in Malaysia from a social capital perspective. Malaysia presents a highly culturally diverse host country which has increasingly become attractive for global organizations over the last few decades. A high-quality relationship with host national employees allows expatriates to access valuable resources which facilitate their adjustment and performance. Such
resources represent expatriates’ social capital. However, it is still unknown why some expatriates are more successful in developing higher level of social capital with Host
Country Nationals than others.
Prior research shows that expatriates with higher level of Cultural Intelligence often feel more comfortable to interact with Host Country Nationals (HCNs). Therefore, Cultural Intelligence would be expected to have a positive impact on expatriates’ relationship quality with HCNs and, hence, improving social capital. The relationship between
Cultural Intelligence and social capital is, however, under researched especially with little focus given to the effect of metacognitive, cognitive, motivational, and behavioural
dimensions of Cultural Intelligence.
Following mixed methods approach, this thesis uses quantitative survey and Multiple Linear Regression to identify general relationships between the four dimensions of Cultural Intelligence and expatriates’ social capital. Additionally, qualitative semi-structured interviews and Thematic Analysis are used to explore how and why Cultural
Intelligence may influence expatriates’ development of social capital.
The results suggest that expatriates’ metacognitive, motivational, and behavioural Cultural Intelligence have a positive effect on expatriates’ development of social capital. However, the effect of cognitive Cultural Intelligence is very limited. The qualitative findings provide insights on the challenges in expatriates’ work relationship with HCNs due to their cultural differences, and how the different dimensions of Cultural Intelligence
may help to solve them, thereby contributing to expatriates’ development of social capital. One important finding concerns the mediating role of recognition and appraisal respect in facilitating expatriates’ development of social capital with their host national colleagues.
This thesis contributes to the expatriate literature by being the first to examine how and why expatriates’ metacognitive, cognitive, motivational, and behavioural Cultural Intelligence may influence the development of social capital with their host national work colleagues. The findings of this thesis also have practical implications concerning the selection of future expatriates and the design of more effective training programs to enhance expatriates’ probability of success by receiving more useful resources from HCNs
Reinterpretasi Monumen Bagindo Aziz Chan Karya Arby Samah dalam Ikonografi Erwin Panofsky
Get PDFABSTRACTResearch was entered to trace the Bagindo Aziz Chan monument by Arby Samah trough the iconographicapproach put forward by Erwin Panofsky, as well as to uncover the reason for the contruction of themonument. The research uses qualitative methods of observation interviews and document.The figure Arby Samah described in the “Bagindo Aziz Chan Monument” is indeed a Bagindo figure,which was made using cement plaster technique, making the work began in 1973 by Arby Samah. Reliefsmade in the foundation of the statue tells the sequence of event killed Bagindo Aziz Chan. The use ofthe realist style found by the author on the Bagindo Aziz Chan monument although the cultivation ofthe statue still looks tough, but the delivery of the sign on the statue is the hope and ideals of BagindoAziz Chan during his leadership as mayor of Padang is clearly depicted. The making of the statue uses acement plaster which is a technique commonly technique. Used by sculpture artists in the 1970s. In 2005Bagindo Aziz Chan was awarded as a national hero from west Sumatera by the central government, andalso on July 19 the people of Padang commemorated the day of death of Bagindo Aziz Chan which was atribute to the leader of Padang. And also the name Bagindo Aziz Chan has been enshrined as the name ofa street and a building in the city of Padang.Keywords: Bagindo Aziz Chan Monument, Iconographic, Erwin Panofsky.ABSTRAKPenelitian dimaksudkan untuk menelusuri monumen Bagindo Aziz Chan karya Arby Samahmelalui pendekatan ikonografi yang dikemukakan oleh Erwin Panofsky, serta mengungkapalasan dibangunnya monumen tersebut. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode kualitatif yaitupengamatan, wawancara dan dokumen.Tokoh yang digambarkan Arby Samah pada karya “Monumen Bagindo Aziz Chan” ini memangsosok Bagindo Aziz Chan, yang dibuat memakai teknik plaster semen, pembuatan karya tersebutselesai mulai dilakukan pada tahun 1971 dan selesai pada tahun 1973 yang dibuat oleh ArbySamah. Relief yang dibuat pada landasan patung menceritakan urutan peristiwa terbunuhnyaBagindo Aziz Chan. Pemakaian gaya realis yang didapati penulis pada monumen BagindoAziz Chan walaupun penggarapan patung tersebut masih terlihat kasar, namun penyampaiantanda pada patung tersebut merupakan harapan dan cita-cita Bagindo Aziz Chan selamakepemimpinannya sebagai wali kota Padang tergambarkan dengan jelas. Pembuatan patungtersebut menggunakan teknik plaster semen yang merupakan teknik yang umum dipakai olehseniman patung pada tahun 1970-an. Pada tahun 2005 Bagindo Aziz Chan dianugrahi sebagaipahlawan nasional asal Sumatera Barat oleh pemerintah pusat, dan juga pada tanggal 19 Julimasyarakat kota Padang memperingati hari wafatnya Bagindo Aziz Chan yang merupakanpenghormatan kepada pemimpin kota Padang yang tegas dan berani tersebut. Dan juga namaBagindo Aziz Chan sudah diabadikan sebagai nama jalan dan gedung di kota Padang.Kata Kunci: Monumen Bagindo Aziz Chan, Ikonografi Erwin Panofsk
Regulatory risk disclosure in the banking industry: a scoring model approach
Get PDFBanks communicate their regulatory risk exposures through disclosure reports to market participants. These reports are based on the Basel III Pillar 3 guidelines, implemented in the European Union in form of the Capital Requirements Directive and Regulation (CRD IV/CRR).
Agency theory views such disclosures as one viable option to reduce the information asymmetry between the banks’ managers and investors. Also, high-quality risk disclosures can strengthen the competitive position of banks through lower cost of capital and higher stock liquidity. It is therefore in the interest of banks to prepare high-quality disclosures and evaluate current disclosure practices.
This thesis proposes a scoring model that measures the quality of bank regulatory risk disclosures and thereby supports banks and their stakeholders in their decision-making process on risk communication. The model builds on a two-dimensional framework including 1) a risk dimension comprising credit risk, market risk, operational risk, other risks including liquidity risk, and risk management in general; and 2) a quality dimension covering the criteria readability, comprehensiveness, meaningfulness, time comparability, and sector comparability. The quality criteria are operationalised and applied to the risk categories to facilitate the calculation of composite disclosure scores for regulatory risk disclosure reports of a sample of thirty large European-headquartered banks for the period 2016 to 2018.
Prior research shows that disclosure quality depends on both qualitative and quantitative elements. Therefore, a multi-methods approach is applied in this thesis to build the scoring model based on a pragmatic research philosophy. In the research design, qualitative elements are captured with semantic content analysis, while quantitative elements are explored using factor analysis.
The calculation of composite disclosure scores results in an average composite disclosure score of 3.86 (out of a maximum of 5) with a spread of about 20% to both sides. The analysis finds that reading difficulty across individual disclosure reports is generally very high, disclosure quantity varies substantially, banks are reluctant to provide forward-looking information, and only few information on time and sector comparability is included. This, therefore, makes it difficult for different stakeholders to benefit from bank disclosure reports and leaves ample space for banks to improve on their risk communication.
The main academic contribution of this thesis is the development of a scoring model that captures the quality of regulatory risk disclosures in the EU banking industry. Such a practice-based model does not yet exist and has long been called for in prior literature. This research also introduces a comprehensive word-based approach that is an adequate proxy for measuring disclosure quality. Finally, the thesis adds to the understanding of how the term “information content” is interpreted differently across EU banks in the context of agency theory.
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For the professional contribution, the proposed scoring model enables banks to analyse their current disclosure practices and points them to areas for improvements. Supervisory authorities and analyst houses also benefit from the scoring model through a more efficient and effective analysis of disclosure reports. Finally, consultancies and software firms can benefit from such a model to expand their offerings on business intelligence.
JEL classification: M48 (Government Policy and Regulation)
Keywords: Banking risk reporting; Regulation; Disclosure; Basel III Pillar 3; CRD IV/CRR; Quality scoring model
Investigating antecedents of service innovation in the bank industry: evidence from Jordan
Get PDFIn today's highly competitive marketplaces, innovation is generally seen as one of the major
factors influencing a firm's long-term success. Service innovation represents an additional
means by which firms can improve their market performance and efficiency, which in turn may
contribute to competitive advantage in today’s business environment.
Market orientation, technology orientation and learning orientation are suggested collectively
to be key drivers influencing service innovation and firm performance. However, very little
research has been done so far to examine in one single model the impact of these three strategic
orientations on service innovation and firm performance. Additionally, while many studies
have examined transformational leadership as having a moderating impact between different
variables, there is a lack of studies that have examined the impact of transformational
leadership as a moderator between market orientation, technology orientation and learning
orientation on service innovation towards improving firm performance in banking industry.
Therefore, this study aims to examine the impact of the three orientations on service innovation
and firm performance and the moderating impact of transformational leadership between the
three orientations and service innovation.
After identifying and reviewing the relevant literature in depth, the contingency theory was
used to develop the conceptual model and associated hypotheses. This study employed a
quantitative research design where 199 questionnaires were collected from bank managers in
the first-second-third lines operating in Jordanian banks, to obtain necessary data to test the
hypotheses developed for the study. Hierarchical regression analysis and Structural Equation
Modelling through SPSS and AMOS were performed to analyse the research data.
The main findings indicate that market, technology and learning orientations have a direct and
positive impact on service innovation. Moreover, transformational leadership is found to
moderate the relationship between market and learning orientation and service innovation.
However, transformational leadership evidently has no moderating impact on the relationship
between technology orientation and service innovation. Finally, service innovation is found to
have a positive and direct impact on banks’ financial and non-financial performance.
The current study contributes to the current literature at different levels. First, at the theoretical
level, this study develops a conceptual framework which crosses different streams of literature,
mainly market orientation, technology orientation, learning orientation, transformational
leadership, service innovation and firm performance. Unlike previous studies, the model: (i)
examines the direct impact of market, technology and learning on service innovation and offers
a view of how service innovation can improve firm performance (financially and nonfinancially);
(ii) examines the moderating impact of transformational leadership. Previous
research has focused primarily on one or a few dimensions of strategic orientations. None of
the previous studies, including those conducted in banks, combined the three orientations and
transformational leadership in a single study to understand the effects on service innovation
and, consequently, firm performance. Second, at the empirical level, this study is conducted in
the Jordanian banking industry. As such this study is one of the very few studies to use
empirical data from the study context to examine and report how different orientations and
transformational leadership can impact service innovation and in turn improve firm
performance. No previous literature has been found that has studied this orientation in the
banking industry in the Middle East and in particular in Jordan; moreover, no studies have been
found that integrated these kinds of orientations into one single model to improve firm
performance
The impacts of diversification strategy on the financial performance of insurers
Get PDFThe thesis examines the impacts of diversification strategy on the financial performance of firms in the insurance industry. It investigates the impacts of different dimensions of the diversification strategy, including product, geographic, staff, and technological diversification, on insurers' financial performance while considering some essential control variables such as type, size, age, and ownership structure of the companies. The research measures financial performance with the return on equity (ROE) and the return on assets (ROA).
The thesis employs the mixed methods research methodology using qualitative and quantitative data collected from Iranian insurance companies, while the data is analysed quantitatively. Two separate studies are conducted to evaluate the impacts of different dimensions of diversification strategy on firms' financial performance. Specifically, the first study focuses on the impact of technological diversification strategy on a firm's financial performance. This study uses the primary data associated with technological diversification through a questionnaire survey with managers from 31 Iranian insurance companies, as the data for technological diversification is not available as secondary data. The data associated with firms' financial performance is collected from reports annually published by the Central Insurance of Iran. Employing the Structural Equation Modelling method enabled by Smart PLS 3 software to analyse the primary data, the study reports mixed effects of technological diversification on the financial performance of Iranian insurers. The second study focuses on investigating the impacts of product, geographic and staff diversification strategies on the financial performance of Iranian insurers. This study employs secondary data collected from the annual reports of the Central Insurance of Iran (from 2011 to 2020). Using econometric techniques for panel data (e.g., fixed effects) enabled by EViews 10 software, the study finds some
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significant impacts of different dimensions of diversification strategy on the financial performance of Iranian insurers.
This thesis is novel in several ways. First, it uses new measurement methods for different dimensions of the diversification strategy, specifically for product diversification and technological diversification. Second, this is the first study in diversification-firms' financial performance literature that combines all four dimensions in a single study. Third, this research benefits from different theoretical perspectives to synthesise the literature and interpret the findings. Therefore, the thesis is not bound or biased to any single theoretical lens. Finally, it provides robust and comprehensive findings for both researchers and practitioners in the insurance industry
Home-bias in online fundraising: an analysis of international reward-based crowdfunding
Get PDFHome Bias is the recognized tendency of individuals to choose geographically proximate interaction partners. In business finance, Home Bias is to the detriment of both investors and entrepreneurs because it promotes an uneven distribution of capital and contributes to the Global Finance Gap. The aim of this thesis is to examine the existence of Home Bias in the emerging financing channel of reward-based crowdfunding. Crowdfunding, in general, is different from traditional financing because it shifts the entire fundraising process to a digital space on the internet. Moreover, it introduces new community-based trust mechanisms and eliminates some of the distance-related costs. The focus of this thesis lies on reward-based crowdfunding, which is currently the most popular, unrestricted and, therefore, most international form of crowdfunding.
To assess whether international reward-based crowdfunding is prone to Home Bias, this thesis employs a Negative Binomial regression model that examines the relationship between the count of crowdfunding project backers and their respective distance to entrepreneurs. The model builds on an aggregate data sample of 1,118,654 project-specific country-to-country investment observations (from 211,695 projects) that occurred on Kickstarter platform between 2009 and 2020, making it the largest and most up to date crowdfunding study.
Although large sample or “Big Data” models provide many advantages (e.g., higher representativeness), and have been commonly used in the crowdfunding literature, they however introduce some caveats that have been mostly ignored by previous research. One main issue that might distort results in Big Data models is that they are capable to identify marginally small patterns in the data that, although statistically significant in terms of p-values, might have little relevance in practice. Therefore, this thesis goes beyond the traditional analysis of statistical significance and devotes great attention to the assessment of different marginal effect sizes to identify the practical relevance of findings.
The thesis also investigates the effect of additional variables that may have potential effect on the count of backers namely GDP per capita of backers and entrepreneurs, project category, third-party endorsements, herding behaviour and Covid-19 pandemic.
The results suggest that although geographical distance appears to have a statistically significant negative influence on the count of backers, its practical effect is very small. This indicates that Home Bias has a comparably small relevance in international reward-based crowdfunding and that entrepreneurs should not overestimate its impact when planning their crowdfunding campaigns. Moreover, neither individual wealth of backers nor entrepreneurs, project category or global economic crises seem to affect the success of crowdfunding campaigns in a practically relevant manner. However, herding behaviour and third-party endorsements do seem to have a statistically and practically relevant influence on the count of backers and, therefore, should be considered in the planning of crowdfunding campaigns.
The overall findings of this thesis suggest that some of the prior research in crowdfunding might have overestimated the practical relevance of certain influencing factors (e.g., geographical distance and individual wealth), perhaps by focusing too much on statistical significance while ignoring the capability of Big Data models to identify marginally small and practically irrelevant patterns in the data
Effect of interval training and drinking vital water on anaerobic capacity, functional indicators and some skills in volleyball
Get PDFThe primary objective of this study was to identify the effect of interval training and drinking vital water on anaerobic capacity, functional indicators and some skills in volleyball. The present study had an experimental design of parallel groups, in which participants were divided in two groups: experimental group and control group. The students of the College of Physical Education and Sports Science of the University of Baghdad represented the research community. The participants were selected in a deliberate way. A total of 230 students were present in the research community, of which 20 participants were randomly selected as the sample of the study. All the participants were equally allocated into the two groups, with n=10 in each group. The findings showed that the combination of interval training and drinking vital water had a positive effect on anaerobic capacity, functional indicators and some skills in volleyball
Influencing Factors of Workplace Relationships on Neutralisation Techniques applied by White-Collar Criminals
Get PDFThis thesis examines the phenomenon of white-collar crime, meaning illegal acts
as defined by German law, committed by a person or group of persons in the
course of a legitimate occupation for the benefit of the individual criminal(s)
without organisational support. As not only big fraud scandals that gain media
attention cause tremendous losses, this qualitative research investigates into
those supposedly petty white-collar crimes (e.g., working time fraud, skiving,
thefts, etc.) to generate a wider and deeper understanding of these often considered trivial offences which, nonetheless, are responsible for almost half of
the financial losses caused by all white-collar crimes globally.
A stream of previous research has demonstrated that workplace relationships,
good or bad, with peers or across organisational hierarchies, have the power to
influence the behaviour of individual employees.
Another stream of prior studies discovered that neutralisation, as a before the act justification of a deed, and the concrete application of neutralisation
techniques are a necessary means for employees to reduce their cognitive
dissonance which allows them to perpetrate white-collar crimes.
By conducting 20 interviews with white-collar criminals, this thesis has
successfully closed the research gap by linking up these existing research
streams. The empirical findings show how workplace relationships, when
manifested in social situations and interpersonal events, affect the decision making process and the application of neutralisation techniques by white-collar
criminals. This contribution to knowledge is used to develop propositions for
future research.
This study has identified certain trigger events, such as specific situations and
conducts by workplace actors (e.g., superiors, colleagues and even
subordinates) that evoke distinct emotions and cause corresponding feelings
among perpetrators and thereby serve as a breeding ground for the formation,
development, and application of neutralisation techniques.
If aware of these connections and patterns, companies and advisors will be able
to improve compliance management systems and anti-fraud measures by
applying more targeted interventions and approaches
Samah seleem: the popular novel and the origins of the novel
Get PDFBu çalışma öncelikle, Semah Selim’in romancılığın esaslarına dair araştırma ve incelemelerini tanımlamaya yöneliktir. Bu minvalde Arap romancılığına ait başarılı öncü çalışmalarda Avrupa romancılığından etkilenimin, Arap kültüründen ve özellikle Arap halk kültüründen etkilenim ölçüsünde olmadığı betimlenmiştir. Her ne kadar yazar, temelsiz tercümelerin revaç bulmasında popüler romanların baskın etkisini gündeme getirmiş olsa bile yazarların konu seçiminde toplum zevkinin ve ilgisinin önemli rollleri olduğu bir vakıadırThis study primarily aims at introducing Dr. Samah Seleem’s work and academic endeavor concerning the popular novel and its origin/ the origin of novel to the readers. Her work has revealed that the beginnings of that novel are not attributed to the impact of European achievements. Rather, they could be attributed to the Arabian legacy and its popular roots in particular as the audience has played a major role in directing the writers’ attention to their areas of interest. However, the author thinks that the popular novels had tremendously led to the preponderance of fake translations.تسعى هذه الدراسة أّواًل للتعريف بجهود الدكتوره سماح سليم، واشتغاًلتها بالبحث
عن أصول الرواية، والتي انتهت فيها إلى أ ّن إرهاصات ال ِّرواية العربّية ًل تعود
ُّرها بالتراث العربي،
ُّرها بالنتاجات األوروبية، بقدر ما هي تعود إلى تأث
لعالقة تأث
اب حول
وخا َّصة ال ّشعبي. حيث كان لذائقة الجمهور الدور الكبير في توجيه ال ُكتَّ
رى المؤلفة أن الروايا ِت ال َّشعبي َة الموضوعات التي يهتمون بها، وإن كانت َت كان لها
دو ٌر ُمهٌّم في رواج الترجمات الكاذبة
The Effect of Eating Breakfast on Some Physiological Indicators and Defensive Skills in Volleyball
No full textThe purpose of this paper is to know the effect of breakfast on some physiological indicators in athletes, identify the effect of breakfast on the performance of defensive skills in volleyball for athletes , and comparing the effect of breakfast on some physiological and skill indicators between the two research groups. The researcher used the descriptive approach in the survey style, which suits the researcher's study and is appropriate to the nature of the problem. The research community was chosen by the intentional method, which is the students of the College of Physical Education and the Sports Sciences / University of Baghdad, the fourth stage, and they are (380) students. group (10 players) they were named group (A) who eat breakfast and group (B) who do not eat breakfast, where the researcher emphasized on a group of things, the most important of which is agreement on balanced and similar meals in types of food, quantity, One of the most important conclusions reached by the researcher is that eating breakfast in the morning has a positive effect on improving physiological indicators and defensive skill performance in volleyball, and one of the most important recommendations is to urge students or any group to eat breakfast to obtain the necessary energy to improve skillful and functional performance
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