Vol. 13(2) June 2020
Behold My Beautiful Space - Quantitative Insights
into the Composite Role of Workplace Aesthetics, Personality Type and the Degree
of Desk Personalization for Employee Well-Being
Busse Ronald and Schneider Jan
Page No: 1-16
While digitization breeds new forms of virtual collaboration
and while value shifts as well as demographic changes whip the raging ‘war for talents’,
scholars and practitioners agree on the pivotal role of the ‘human factor’ for firm
performance. Our work focuses on the composite role of office design, personality
types and the degree of desk personalization for employee well-being.
Based on a large German sample, our quantitative investigation yields promising
results. Our findings indicate the paramount importance of perceived aesthetic quality
of the workplace and of having an own personal space as key facilitators for experiencing
a meaningful self at work. Our study finds the degree of personalization and personality
types to only play a minor role. Future research may add further variables and may
want to invite practicing managers to test our recommendations. We hope our new
insights will add to the lively debate in the field of organisational design.
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Ecotourism potential development of bukit barisan
forest park in Karo regency
Munthe Jesisca and Setiadi Hafid
Page No: 17-23
Tourism activities in Karo Regency are one of important
sectors in sustainable development. This is supported by natural and cultural conditions
which can be combined into an attractive ecotourism package. One of the natural
resources in Karo Regency has the potential to be used as ecotourism is Bukit Barisan
Forest Park which covers an area of 19,805 Ha.
The purpose of this study was to determine the condition of the Bukit Barisan Great
Forest Park in the Karo Regency in terms of ecological aspects which consist of
tourist attraction objects, vegetation cover, the boundary of the Great Forest Park
and the administrative boundaries of the area. This research utilizes satellite
imagery and uses qualitative methods to obtain results that can ultimately be used
to evaluate regional development plans in the future.
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Understanding the social capital in refugee entrepreneurs
Swithina Mboko
Page No: 24-34
This study is an exploration of the nature of social
capital in the entrepreneurial process of refugee entrepreneurs. There are studies
that have found that social capital plays a critical role in the immigrant entrepreneurship
process, suggesting the positive effect that an influential network in the host
society will have on immigrants’ lives and their businesses. We wish to make a contribution
to this research stream through studying refugee entrepreneurs. To achieve the objective
of analyzing the structure and use of social capital for refugee entrepreneurs,
this study focuses on refugees from Africa in a Midwestern city of Michigan, USA.
The data stems from a case study of face to face interviews with respondents supplemented
by participant and operations observation and review of refugee business websites
where they existed.
We found in the refugee entrepreneurs a high interaction with co-ethnic community
players and a low interaction with institutional small business support systems.
We found little evidence of strong networks with business advisers and financiers,
players considered important in influential and helpful networks for entrepreneurs.
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Impact of Asymmetric Information and Priority Actions
on Active Environmental Innovation Strategies
Qunlin Fan and Huaping Wu
Page No: 35-40
Group Struggle resulting from environmental problems
increases uncertainties and leads to governmental problems. This study suggests
that given these factors, firms should adopt a PEIS (Proactive Environmental Innovation
Strategy). However, informational uncertainties make a firm’s decision to adopt
a PEIS difficult. These informational uncertainties stem from both information asymmetry
and the strong correlation between government and firms in China. To minimize informational
uncertainties, we build a firm-stakeholder signal game model that can analyze signaling
and competition for priority action. Considering the public sector, we present the
following findings which are applicable to firms and local government alike. First,
we prove that SE (separation equilibrium), the condition that the corporate sector
publishes truthful environmental information, must exist. SE, we argue, is an incentive
for choosing a PEIS.
Second, we find that government’s effective measures may weaken firm-stakeholder
competition for priority action. The government must strengthen the regulations
guiding corporate environmental responsibility, which should increase the corporate
sector’s costs on Public Relation (PR) efforts especially. The government must also
provide more convenient and diverse means for decreasing stakeholders’ PR costs
which should influence PEIS choice. In addition, the study discusses PEIS selection
made by the firm from the perspective of signal game trying to expand theories of
environmental innovation strategy.
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Businesses and Public Health between using Lock Down
as a Tool against Covid-19 pandemic in Italy: The Impact in a Global Perspective
Ubaldo Comite
Page No: 41-47
Since the spread of Corona Virus Disease 19 (COVID -19),
most Italian regions on indication of the Central Government have embarked on a
system of either total or partial lock down and have used it as a tool for curbing
the spread of COVID-19. This study examines whether lock down can be of help and
is it any of the public health policies and can it bring up massive and tremendous
change to the health system and general economy to Italian regions that have used
it as a way of intervention in the spread of COVID19. The research reviewed literature
about word economies with Google as the main search tool; also dealt with to press
conferences, editorial reviews from Italian newspapers, Bank of Italy, World Bank,
International Monetary Fund and World Health Organization. Interviews were also
done through phone calls, questions asked via emails to some of the italian leading
epidemiologist, infectious disease specialist in the Italy, carefully reading their
scientific works and their citations etc. Also, individual experiences and observations
on the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy and measures that policy makers have laid down
to mitigate the global health crisis of COVID-19 were also counted.
A careful study and analysis of various countries (Germany, Spain, France, Italy)
that embarked on lock down either partial or complete is showing plummeting inflation,
declining gross domestic product, loss of capital for business groups, loss of jobs
especially in the informal sectors, a negative growth due to disruption of the world
economy through global value chains, abrupt fall in commodity prices and fiscal
revenues and enforcement of travel and social restrictions. The research found that
a national lock down is no cure, has never been a cure and is not a cure to any
of the pandemics, be it previous or recent either in the history of the Spanish
flu, influenza and the pending COVID-19. The research also shows that the 2SQ that
is social distancing, self-isolation and quarantine are indispensible tools in this
pandemic season and should be enforced to the core to help in the management of
COVID-19. In the 2SQ, the 2S stand for social distancing and self-isolation while
the Q stands for quarantine.
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