Journal articles on the topic 'Managerial dedication'

Within this study, we want to determine the extent of academic administrators' managerial roles in a certain university, because their role in any academic institution is the most significance to lead the employees and middle managers. Once the administrators do the proper and appropriate management, the organization's goals will be attained. We employed the descriptive survey method, and used the rating of administration's managerial roles implementation, as one of our measures in our questionnaires. We formulated a qualitative scale, and each one has its corresponding verbal interpretation. In addition, we propose a hypothetical mean range, which is the assigned numeric value to strengthen and validate each of the particular qualitative extent. We found that the academic administrators manifested their managerial roles are at a great degree; confirming the interview with the nonteaching staff and the academic administrators themselves. We conclude that although the academic administrators manifested their capabilities in performing their managerial roles to attain the goals of the university, still, there were certain areas that they needed to develop, such as to enhance network with other institutions and community agency, to confine subordinate's workload with a dedication for official duties.

The South African manager: Challenges and dilemma The South African working environment is typified by two extremes. On the one hand there is an over-supply of unskilled labour, whilst on the other hand there is a severe shortage of qualified persons which have the applicable experience. In addition white males are mainly used to fill managerial positions. This unavoidably leads to the over-utilization of white males within the management sphere. Not only do they try to cover the whole managerial spectrum, but they also execute the majority of specialist activities. The inevitable result is total work dedication mainly to compensate for the lack of the correct training and experience. This necessarily leads to the neglect of spouse and family and a superficializing of religion, culture, and personal life. To determine to what extend this negative situation actually exists in South Africa and what need to be done to rectify it, country-wide research was undertaken and the findings are recorded in this article.

AbstractObjective: This study is based on the analysis of three fundamental aspects of company and managerial life: the culture of organizations, the style of leadership and financial performance. Its focus was to question the connection between these and to devise a strategy that could be applied in Portugal, during 2017 and 2019, in industrial sector companies.Methodology: To do so, it was decided to start methodological analysis of the behaviour of managers and organizations operating in this environment, considering several classifications: multinational companies operating in Portugal and Portuguese companies with a strategy for and in the process of internationalization. On this basis the study problem was set at the level of managerial behaviour, bearing in mind that this varies depending on the type of organization in which managers’ work. The problem involves scientific, methodological, and cultural aspects that have already been demonstrated by several authors, whose considerations have been incorporated. The study was conducted in 16 companies operating in Portugal.Findings: The characteristics of leadership in the multinationals tend towards greater balance between the four roles of each of the corresponding quadrants, while in the national companies it tends to be more internally focused.Value Added: This difference could be related to what R. Quinn calls the Normal State of Leadership, which is focused on the comfort zone that the internal processes seem to generate; the multinational companies are more focused on external aspects and future development – Fundamental State of Leadership – centred on strategic dedication to clients and flexibility.Recommendations: Dedication to clients and flexibility, that we intend to link with Internal Marketing strategy drivers, considering the investigation ideas for this paper, as the demonstration if some different Leadership Styles influence the Financial Performance of the Companies or not.

The article deals with leading role of managers in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of management in all spheres of social life. At the same time, the relevance is dictated by the need, in this regard, to study more deeply the factors of the formation and development of managerial potential, and, consequently, increase the efficiency of managerial activity and the success of a managerial career. The material for the analysis was the data obtained at the Faculty of Evaluation and Development of Managerial Human Resources of the Graduate School of Public Administration of Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration in the course of personal and professional diagnostics of managers of different government levels working in the state and non-state spheres. The questionnaire “Assessment of management potential”, developed at the Faculty, as well as the method for assessing the cognitive characteristics of management personnel were used by us as diagnostic tools. Cognitive characteristics have been identified that provide the greatest opportunities for the formation of cognitive characteristics (expert competence, persistence and dedication and strategic leadership). The dynamics of the relationship between cognitive characteristics and managerial leaders, depending on their position in the structure of the hierarchy, is shown in this article. It was found that cognitive characteristics make the greatest contribution to the formation of managerial potential among managers at the initial level of management, having a decisive influence on meta-competence, ensuring the performance of leadership functions and continuous self-improvement of the manager. At the same time, it was shown that the managers of the highest group have the influence of cognitive characteristics on managerial analytical potential, an increase in the ability for self-development and expert competence, an increase in the ability to compare, the ability to quality, and the total indicator for the identified cognitive characteristics. Increased creativity and flexibility of thinking leads to a decrease in the level of strategic leadership, willingness to work together, as well as competencies and self-management.

The article is devoted to the research of career orientations (career “anchors”) with education and labor activity motivation of students. 114 students of “Psychological and pedagogical education” took part in the study. It is revealed that the most adequate motivation of education ex-pressed in the predominance of motives for acquiring knowledge and mastering the profession is associated with career orientations “service / dedication to a cause”, “pure challenge”, “technical / functional competence”. In other words, it is connected with aspiration to realize basic values in their careers, to improve the world, to develop and apply professional skills, to solve difficult problems, to overcome obstacles, to win. The career anchor of “service / dedication to a cause” is also associated with an increase of the communicative motive and a decrease of the competitive motive of labor activity. The more students are guided by the formal motive of getting a diploma of higher education, the less the stability of a career is valuable for them. The more utilitarian and pragmatic motive of la-bor activity is expressed in students, the less they are inclined to managerial or entrepreneurial career. The more autonomy and independence in career is valuable for students, the less social usefulness of labor (cooperative motive) is important for them.

The Vaal University of Technology (VUT) has been offering a multidiscipline Extended Programme since 2009 and even though this Programme is made up from different faculties, the entire Extended Programme is overseen by one unit director.Due to the diversity of the unit and the variety of subject offerings, the unit simply cannot follow the same managerial approach that is applied when managing one specific discipline. That is why it requires a completely different and unique approach. The Extended Programme consists of students who are enrolled in different disciplines, i.e. Engineering, Human Sciences, etc., who all learn in different ways and have different needs, but are all managed in one specific unit. Therefore, to ensure that all needs of staff and students are catered for, it is crucial that an alternative managerial approach is applied.The success of a multidiscipline Extended Programme is dependent on the successes of the students, who in return are dependent on the dedication of both academic and administration staff. More so, the positive influence lecturers have on students and the invaluable role they play. It is undeniable that without the guidance and motivation of the lecturers it would be very difficult for the students to succeed. In order for the lecturers to be kept motivated and content, it is important to provide them with equal workloads and ensure transparency at all times. Staff, which is irrefutably guided and kept motivated by a suitable managerial approach. Applying this approach when managing a multidiscipline

Contrary to Schein’s theory of career anchors, which rests on the dominance of a single career anchor, the present study proposes an original career anchor structure that captures multiple dominant anchors. The analysis of data from a sample of 880 Quebec engineers supports this reconceptualization based on a circular model of career anchors. The new dynamics of career anchors shows that several anchors are complementary (e.g., creativity and challenge) while others are conflictual (e.g., challenge and security). In particular, the correlational analysis at the axial level indicates that the “self-enhancement” pole (managerial competence, identity) is negatively correlated with the “self-transcendence” (service/dedication to a cause, technical competence), whereas the pole “openness to change” (challenge, entrepreneurial creativity) is negatively correlated with the “conservation” pole (security, lifestyle). These findings can lead to more research in career management.

PurposeThe present study follows the conflicting outcomes perspective of Human Resources Management (HRM) and examines the effects of employees' perceptions of high performance work systems (HPWS) on job demands (role conflict, role ambiguity and work pressure) and work engagement (vigor and dedication).Design/methodology/approachStructural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used on a sample of 524 front-line employees across three Greek manufacturing companies.FindingsThe findings show that HPWS is negatively associated with all three job demands. Hence, the “critical perspective” is not supported. In turn, role conflict and role ambiguity reduce employees' work engagement, although the third job demand included in the study (work pressure) showed a positive relationship on dedication. Last but not least, this study calculates HPWS as both a system and as subsets of HRM practices, and provides useful insights regarding the differences between the two different measurement methods.Practical implicationsThe present study brings further empirical evidence in the HRM field by examining whether HPWS is good or bad for employee well-being. Moreover, the findings underscore the detrimental impact that job demands may have on employees' work engagement, and highlights the fact that HPWS might not necessarily be a “win-win” scenario for employees and employers.Originality/valueThis study follows the most recent developments in the HRM literature and examines the dark (negative) approach of HPWS in the Greek manufacturing sector. Finally, theoretical and managerial implications are drawn for improving our understanding of how HPWS influences job demands and ultimately employees' work engagement.

Striving excellence in all spheres and managing with a proper strategic plan is the articulated vision of a true leader. Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th President of United States, quoted, ‘Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want to be done because he wants to do it.’ The supervision, foresight, executives, managerial skill, communication, and positive approach of the organizational leader multiplies the quality and ensures the development of an educational institute. The work culture, behavior, commitment, dedication, and honesty of the leader reflect in the whole system. In educational institutions, effective leadership is a key factor in switching the prospects more towards the building of healthy organizations in terms of human resource development and growth. The democratic value and professional ethics must be upheld by the leader to maintain the internal environment of the organization and the achievement of quality objectives. With the help of secondary resources and literature, this paper seeks to highlight the role of organizational leader and importance of Organizational leadership for quality up-gradation of human resources in the context of educational institutions.

The role of principal is very important. It is him/her to be accountable for working process. Obviously, each school aims to achieve the highest performance results, therefore education policies should be focused on strengthening the role of the school principal in order to have a higher performance. The principal must know how to manage the school s/he runs by relying on school bodies and adapting the appropriate strategies.The research was conducted in several schools in the municipality of Viti. Both quantitative and qualitative paradigms were used. It is questionnaires and interviews that served as research instruments. The questionnaires were conducted with 100 teachers, whereas the interviews were conducted with one education official of the Municipal Education Directorate and four school principals.This paper’s hypothesis is, ‘Principal’s good managerial skills and dedication provide a higher school performance’.This paper’s research questions are as follows: How does management influence school’s performance? Are principals responsible for an effective school performance management? What strategies do principals use for better school outcomes?

This study aims to describe the process of empowering school administrative personnel which includes awareness, capacity building and empowerment. This study uses a qualitative approach with data collection techniques through interviews, observation and study of the documentation. The data analysis model used an interactive analysis model from Miles Huberman. The results show that the empowerment of school administrative personnel which included awareness, capacity and empowerment stages have been implemented quite successfully so that school administrative staff had various competencies (personality, social, technical and managerial). In the awareness stage, it is carried out to provide encouragement, motivation and communication to school administration staff to increase their adaptability to their main tasks and functions. At the capacitating stage, education and training are carried out in the form of upgrading, education and training, technical guidance and workshops. Meanwhile, at the empowerment stage, apperception and self-potential development activities are carried out. In this empowerment, there is also support from school leaders with full dedication and motivation to empower school administrative personnel. However, there is still a need for reasonably fundamental improvements in empowerment with respect to various constraints and conditions that are expected in the next empowerment process. For this purpose, it is necessary to review (remodify) empowerment programs, so that they are validative, varied, dynamic, evaluative, interesting and weighty, including the consideration of the needs of school administrative personnel.

Scant amount of research led to conduct an empirical investigation with the purpose of identifying the effect of supervisor’s green commitment on employee green work behavior. While addressing this gap in the extant literature, the study made a methodological contribution by validating a scale for green work behavior. A sample of 96 machine operators from often ready to wear apparel-manufacturing firms in Katunayake and Pallekele industrial zones in Sri Lanka responded to a survey. The collected data were analyzed with the hierarchical regression analysis. The results reported that the commitment demonstrated by supervisors in terms of their dedication to the environmental sustainability and willingness to engage with pro-environmental behavior fosters employees to engage with green work behavior. The outcomes of the study provide implications to psychological contract theory and the social sustainability theory. In terms of policy implications, the study proposes decision makers to implement green commitment- and green behavior-enhancing human resource management (HRM) practices. The policy makers should introduce green commitment-enhancing HR practices for their employees such as rewards, recognition programs, inclusion of green criteria in performance management, as well as green training. Consequently, managerial and supervisory level employees will commit on achieving environmental sustainability goals and assist other employees to perform their green work. The limitations of the study and directions for future studies are also discussed.

The article is devoted to the study of labour achievements of Ivanovo residents during the participation of the USSR in World War II. This was preceded by a whole list of legal, managerial, social and economic decisions taken at the level of the centre and the region. Their main components were measures to organise labour and strengthen labour discipline, which, along with others, were based on the maximum mobilisation of regional resources. They were adequate to the military situation and in general they were so successful that the enterprises of the city and the region were able to achieve uninterrupted production of military and civilian products, and their teams during the war showed mass labour heroism and dedication. The article is based on the materials of the state archive of Ivanovo Region and the Russian state archive of socio-political history, as well as local and central periodicals. It summarises new information on the subject of most archival documents are introduced into scientific circulation, which allows to expand the knowledge of researchers and the public about the contribution of residents of Ivanovo and the region in achieving victory over Nazi Germany and its allies. The results of this study may be of interest to experts in the field of regional economy and the history of the World War II East Front.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess the status of Six Sigma's status in Brazilian companies and understand the integration of this program with other quality management approaches. Additionally, the critical success factors (CSFs) for Six Sigma implementation and primary Six Sigma program characteristics were identified. Finally, the results of the used of Six Sigma were analysed. Design/methodology/approach – An extensive literature review illustrates the primary Six Sigma characteristics and its relationship with other quality approaches. The research methodology encompasses survey development and statistical analyses. Questionnaires are distributed to 1,000 large firms in the manufacturing and service industries in Brazil. Altogether, a total of 198 firms, of which 46 companies adopted the Six Sigma program, participated in this study. Findings – The results suggest a synergic and incremental pattern of quality model implementation. The study reveals that companies that have adopted Six Sigma have a long history of implementing quality programs, which suggests a certain level of quality maturity. The studied companies perceive in Six Sigma an incremental evolution, which can be combined with earlier initiatives and provides strong synergy with ISO 9000. The findings of this study confirm the distinctive Six Sigma role structure suggested by several authors. However, three possible configurations of the role structure were found that differ in terms of training and the dedication of human resources involved in the Six Sigma program. Research limitations/implications – This study demonstrates the inherent limits of the research method adopted, the use of a non-probabilistic sample and a reliance on self-reported perceptions, which introduces bias to the analysis. Practical implications – Important managerial implications of this study are related to the Six Sigma structure adopted. The capillarity of the program in the organisation as a whole can be related to the type of role structure configuration adopted. This structure can have an impact in terms of both numbers and employees’ and managers’ degree of involvement, as well as the type of training and resources provided. Originality/value – The diffusion of Six Sigma in Brazilian companies is less widespread than in other countries. Three possible configurations of the role structure were found that differ in terms of the training and dedication of human resources entailed by the Six Sigma program. Three CSFs factors were identified: organisation, infrastructure and human resources.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of learning organization on work engagement in Indian IT firms. Also, this study provides a holistic understanding of antecedents of work engagement at the individual, team, and organizational levels of learning organization. Design/methodology/approach The sample comprised of responses from 250 managerial employees’ working in IT companies based in India. Confirmatory factor analysis was employed to analyze the proposed measurement model. The study utilized hierarchical multiple regression for testing the research hypotheses. Furthermore, incremental validity was examined to depict the variance contribution of the predictor variables (learning organization). Findings The results of hierarchical regression analysis revealed that learning organization dimensions have varied predicting effects on work engagement. The findings of the study showed that vigor and dedication were most significantly predicted by embedded system and continuous learning opportunities of learning organization where as inquiry and dialogue has the most significant influence on absorption. Practical implications This study offers concrete insights to human resource managers for developing prioritized composite-level interventions at individual, team, and organizational levels of learning organization for building highly engaged workforce. Originality/value Despite number of research works on work engagement, research is deficient in examining the role of learning organization dimensions (individual, team and organization level) in influencing work engagement. By investigating the relationship between learning organization and work engagement, the present study embarks to fill the paucity in academic and practitioner literature in the Indian organizational context.

The article discusses theoretical and practical issues of personnel involvement research and defines the role of involvement factors in the structure of service loyalty of persons studying in an educational organization of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. The significance of service loyalty in providing moral and psychological training for law enforcement agencies is discussed. On the basis of analysis of different theoretical statements it is found out that involvement and loyalty provide positive results of professional activity and increase its efficiency. The essence characteristics of involvement, which is a stable attribute that implies long-lasting concentration of an employee on the tasks and contributes to increase the professional dedication of an employee, are discussed. The empirical research using comparative and longitudinal methods has revealed reliable changes of involvement and loyalty indices of cadets during the whole period of training in a higher educational institution. The most significant changes are noted in the adaptation period of training, which is manifested in low values of professional and organizational loyalty, affective and normative loyalty. The study establishes an inverse proportional relationship between training time and cadets' involvement in activities. The results of the study suggest that the indicators of involvement and loyalty factors serve as predictive markers in managerial activity, when assessing the level of service loyalty of internal affairs officers. The empirical data obtained can be recommended for the organization of moral and psychological training of internal affairs officers.

In responsible management, managerial efficiency and sustainable development meet and influence each other. In order to give meaning to their organisation, to respect and look after their collaborators, a manager must promote a set of values on a personal, organisational and societal level. The purpose of this paper is to study the social value attributed to responsible management by students of a technical university. We have therefore undertaken to study a set of seven values attributed to responsible management and, more precisely, their utility and social desirability on a personal, organisational and societal level. The values have been operationalized with personality descriptors. The 60 participants in this study are students from a Romanian technical university. They had to assess, on four scales of seven points each (two for desirability and two for social utility), the value of a person characterised by one of the seven values attributed to responsible management. The results show us that efficiency is the value perceived by the students as being the most desirable for responsible management, and that in terms of social utility, agility is the most appreciated value. We found that there is indeed an effect of the context in which these values are perceived. Efficiency, audacity, dedication and integrity are perceived as more useful at an organisational level, while solidarity was perceived as more useful on a societal level. At the organisational level we also found a gender effect, in the sense that women appreciate people who are efficient, have integrity or are humble more than men do.

This community service activity was carried out at Bumdes (village community owned company) of Banna in Paya Punteut Village, Muara Dua District - Lhokseumawe, Aceh. This village-owned company is known to be engaged in cattle fattening. The motivation and enthusiasm to develop from the management of BUMDes Banna is very high, but the managerial ability of Bumdes management is still very limited. Bumdes, who were expected to grow forward, turned out to be suffering from many problems. One of the problems is when the profit sharing is not proportional. The operating costs incurred are not appropriate. Livestock care work is given to a group of people on the condition that Bumdes bears all operational costs. Profit sharing is based on the revenue sharing system where Bumdes gets a 40% portion of the sales of cows. The service method used in the dedication of the application of science and technology is a participatory method, namely by making continuous observations, speeches, and direct demonstration (demonstration) methods. This activity is capacity building assistance for six months. The focus is on strengthening productivity and management such as compiling financial reports, business visibility, and strengthening archives management. The results of community service activities indicate that the profit sharing system has not fully met the standard accounting standard format, especially in the preparation of the income statement. In order for Bumdes to no longer feel that it is making a profit, but in fact it is a loss, the formulation of the AD-ART (regulation of company village) needs to be revised with the approval of Bumdes stakeholders through village meetings. Furthermore, the preparation of financial statements must be based on applicable accounting standards.

In ecclesiastical worship activities in the Christian community, singing activities both in the format of 'choir', congregational singing and others are integrated in a series of worship services in the church. It is also found among members of the Runggun Benameriah Protestant Karo Batak Church (GBKP) congregation who also use the choir format in activities to praise and glorify God. For Christians singing is a spiritual need. In both churches there are several types of choirs, both the choir moria (mothers), mamre choirs (fathers) gem choirs or youth / youth and elderly choirs. Each choir has a trainer (amateur) who also acts as choir leader, referred to as Dirigen. The problem is that often the quality of the choir that is displayed is low. This means that there are always a lot of technical errors and un-melodious voices from the choir members during the choir presentation. If this condition continues and occurs continuously, the presence of the choir can eventually interfere with the implementation of worship. Another condition is that almost all Dirigens in the GBKP choir are people who have limited musical abilities, and have no background in formal music education. His managerial ability and technical ability to teach choir is very weak. Dirigen's lack of musical knowledge and technical ability will certainly have a profound impact on the quality of the choir he leads. Therefore this dedication team will improve the choir management ability in vocal material and the ability of conducting to all participants so as to minimize the technical difficulties found in the preparation and presentation of the choir. This community service activity is expected that members and conductors / choir leaders can utilize their knowledge and experience as professionals in the field of choir training among community members in general.

The article provides a theoretical analysis of the problem of creativity management in organizations. The relevance of identifying creative employees in the company and encouraging the manifestation of creative solutions among all staff is substantiated. The experience of existing companies is considered, which proves that creativity plays an invaluable role in the management of the organization and the competitiveness of the company in the labor market. The key concepts that underlie creative management are studied, namely: creativity, creativity, talent, skill, coaching, etc. The essence of the concept of creativity taking into account managerial and psychological aspects is revealed. The characteristics of a favorable climate, which are factors of creative behavior that allows to create and implement innovations: challenge (emotional involvement and dedication to their work), freedom (choice of how to do their job), idea time (idea development time), trust and openness (security) expression of opinions and proposing different points of view), dynamism (saturation of life in the organization), game (relaxation of the workplace), debate (participation in debates on issues), conflicts (involvement in interpersonal conflicts), risk (efficiency of response to new opportunities). The elements of creative development are generalized: understanding of the process of creative thinking, definition of blocks for creative thinking and skills, use of methods for obtaining fresher ideas and decisions, permission of personal creative desire and life creative vision. Theories of creativity and methods of creative thinking are analyzed, which describe the process of solving problems and offer non-standard solutions to problems. Stages of creative thinking are distinguished: preparation (problem statement and attempt to solve it), incubation (feeling of lack of strength, postponement of problem solving), enlightenment (sudden, completely unexpected finding of a possible solution), verification (verification of ideas and their formalization and design).

The article analyzes the experiences determined by biographical circumstances that encourage individuals to choose the profession of a teacher in the pursuit of their vocation. Based on people’s biographies, it can be argued that many separate stages of human life, viewed as a whole, provide a meaningful context that can help understand the phenomenon of vocation and reveal its links to the development of professional competencies and to the efficiency of the educational system. The research usually explains the efficiency of an educational organization through pedagogical, managerial, economic and institutional aspects and defines it by qualitative characteristics that are related to the acquisition of knowledge, skills, results achieved by children, efficient use of resources, and the improvement of the teaching process. The aim of the article is to reveal a person’s vocation to become a teacher as a condition, on the one hand, leading to the pedagogical educational process through informal learning, and, on the other hand, making the educational system more efficient. The analysis and results of the qualitative research data are based on the abductive theory construction according to Peirce and the methodology of the Grounding Theory according to Strauss / Corbin. The research revealed that the choice of pedagogical profession and the perception of vocation are evoked by biographical circumstances. The pedagogical potential noticed and mentioned by the close people as well as the preferences for certain activities from childhood and the perception of one’s needs become a basis for the further development of existing competences. Thus, when a competent educator who experiences strong dedication to an educator’s profession gives lessons in an educational institution, the effective and purposeful activity of the educator interacts with the efficiency building of the education system.

The purpose of this research was to explore the Brake Assist System of automobile overhaul competence indicators. Literature review, interviews, professional meeting, Delphi method were yielded to analyze the competence items in the automobile overhaul. Thus, to reveal the curriculum planning, instruction strategy, and teaching material for the automobile overhaul professional technology manpower cultivating, this research was conducted deep expert interview, and three times Delphi questionnaire investigation. The opinions of experts were unanimity for the competence indicators. Finally, results of this study revealed three category competence indicators for the Brake Assist System of automobile overhaul including (1) the 11 professional ethics competence indicators such as value social ethics, working ethics, time, quality, attitude, working zeal and professional dedication, really get the work done, train oneself constantly, high loyalty, plasticity, and law-abiding, and self-managerial competence. (2) the 9 competence indicators of Brake relevant knowledge of the system and analytical skills such as understanding the systematic function of ABS, knowing relevant part names of ABS, function, erection site, and understanding the principle of moving of automobile ABS, and understanding the systematic function of EBD, knowing relevant part names of EBD, function, erection site, and understanding the principle of moving of automobile EBD, and understanding the systematic function of BAS, knowing relevant part names of BAS, function, erection site, and understanding the principle of moving of automobile BAS. And (3) the 6 competence indicators of brake assist system overhaul such as skilful with ABS examine and repair; skilful with ABS relevant part procedure of renewal , and skilful with EBD examine and repair; skilful with EBD relevant part procedure of renewal ,and skilful with BAS examine and repair; skilful with BAS relevant part procedure of renewal. These results are not only offered to help curriculum planning and material development for the basis of the automobile overhaul, but help vocational industrial school and automobile industry cultivating the talent manpower.

The decisive feature of creative management is the creation of conditions for self-realization, which determines the relevance of the study of the transformational vector of creative motivation for the development of creative capabilities of staff. A significant problem of psychological management approaches to creative motivation is the awareness of the need for continuously updated material incentives for staff. A reward received as a deserved prize may cause its unjustified expectation in the future, and its absence begins to be perceived as an unfair incentive system. Monetary motivation is also not an effective tool for stimulating the creative development of staff, because its positive-motivating effect only manifests itself in the first 48 hours. The introduction of a bonus system as a short-term incentive usually indicates the desire of managers to mechanically control the motivation of employees. The use of bonuses is based on the incorrect assumption that an employee does not fully utilize his own potential, and this leads to a motivated inconsistency between the actual and the possible volume of work. Thus, the system of bonus incentives, not taking into account the complex interweaving of market factors, market conditions, prices, products, competition, can destroy the employee's responsibility for achieving the resultant results. Motivated systems that directly rely on quantitative results of work often target workers to achieve short-term success, ignoring long-term development prospects. The effect of displacement of internal motivation with external motivation is manifested: interest in remuneration displaces interest in creative work. Material incentives appear to be incapable of motivating most of them to a long-term desire for self-improvement, development and achievement of creative results. Job satisfaction, diverse activities that require dedication, self-planning goals, education and training, and participation in management are often more important than attractive wages and bonuses in the form of a bonus. The psychological danger to the head is also the use of established non-material methods of stimulating creativity, which often provoke material expectations from the staff. The newest managerial approaches to creative motivation must mutually coordinate the nonlinear combination of different directions of material and immaterial stimulation, despite their certain contradictory nature. Thus, the motivation of creativity focuses on the psychological self-regulation of the individual, integrating the intellectual, motivational, volitional and emotional components of creative activity.

It is a great pleasure to introduce the second volume second issue of our journal into the global community yearning for high-quality, impactful papers. IPJAF continues to seek and provide readers throughout the world with technology supported peer-reviewed scholarly articles on a broad range of established and emergent areas of accounting, finance, business, economics, and social sciences. I am resolute to maintain the high-quality standard of research and publication which is anchored on the exemplary service and dedication of our editorial board, editorial review and the editorial office. This volume 2, issue 2 comprises five manuscripts dealing with financial accounting, taxation, and auditing. The first article entitled “Examining the independent audit committee, managerial ownership, independent board member and audit quality in listed banks” by Dr. Hisar Pangaribuana (Adventist University of Indonesia, Bandung, Indonesia), Dr. Jenny Sihombinga (Adventist University of Indonesia, Bandung, Indonesia), and Dr. Oluwatoyin Muse Johnson Popoola (Tunku Puteri Intan Safinaz School of Accountancy, College of Business, Universiti Utara Malaysia) examines the effects of the independent audit committee on the relationship between managerial ownership and independent board member on audit quality in the Indonesian listed banks. The unit of analysis is companies carrying on the banking business and listed on the Indonesian stock exchange (IDX) between the period of 2010 to 2015. This study is explanatory (i.e., causal predictive), and uses the second generation structural equation modelling statistical analysis tools, PLS-SEM and PROCESS Partial Least Square for hypotheses testing. The results show that the independent board member has a significant impact on the independent audit committee and the audit quality. The study reveals that managerial ownership does not influence audit quality. The adoption of the independent audit committee with a long tenure of years can be potentially risky and less creative. As a result, their oversight functions may be in jeopardy, impaired or reduced performances. The research findings reveal no significant indirect effects of the independent audit committee on the relationship between managerial ownership, independent board member and audit quality in the banks listed in IDX. Independent board members need to renew the appointment of the independent audit committee members to improve the quality of the oversight functions undertaken by the audit committee, and hence, enhance audit quality. The authors suggest further research on the ideal level of managerial ownership and number of an independent board member to produce a good audit quality in the Indonesian listed banks. The second article titled “Salaried taxpayers’ internal states and assessment performance under self-assessment system: a quasi-experimental evaluation” by Dr. Noraza Mat Udin (Tunku Puteri Intan Safinaz School of Accountancy, College of Business, Universiti Utara Malaysia) takes a look at the first reform that impacts taxpayers, that is, the implementation of self-assessment system (SAS) to replace the old assessment system in 2004. The perception is that SAS had entirely changed the taxpayers’ responsibilities from being assessed by the tax authority to a person who is responsible for assessing own income tax liability. Her study explores the public fora debates on whether taxpayers can perform their responsibilities that were previously handled by trained tax personnel in Malaysia. Her paper reports the findings of a quasi-experimental evaluation of salaried individual taxpayers’ in the early stage of SAS implementation. She argues that a lot needs to be done, notwithstanding SAS had been implemented for more than a decade, the problem of taxpayer performance is continuing due to the dynamic nature of taxation in reality. The data were collected using a quasi-experimental method known as posttest-only no-treatment control group design. The sample comprised post-graduate students, who were actual taxpayers. Among the elements of the taxpayer’s internal states considered in this study, tax knowledge was found to have a significant relationship with assessment performance. Further analysis was conducted which showed that the majority of tax knowledge dimensions had a significant relationship with taxpayer assessment performance. The findings of this study have contributed to the body of knowledge because there is a general dearth of published research, particularly in Malaysia that investigates taxpayer assessment performance especially using an experimental approach. The third article with a caption, “Working capital management and firm performance: lessons learnt during and after the financial crisis of 2007-2008 in Nigeria” by Mr. Sunday Simon (Tunku Puteri Intan Safinaz School of Accountancy, College of Business, Universiti Utara Malaysia), Dr. Norfaiezah Sawandi (Tunku Puteri Intan Safinaz School of Accountancy, College of Business, Universiti Utara Malaysia), and Prof. Dr. Mohamad Ali Abdul-Hamid (Department of Accounting, College of Business Administration, University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirate) examines the relationship between working capital management (WCM) and firm performance during and after the financial crisis of 2007-2008 in Nigeria. The authors argue that the financial crisis could be attributable to the deterioration and ultimate failure of WCM performance that affected many Nigerian firms. During the crisis, lending conditions were deeply affected, and financing operations became challenging for firms. Although research findings on the causes and effects of the crisis on the economy are known, what remains unknown is whether the financial crisis had a significant impact on WCM performance. The differences between the two periods, the crisis period and then after the crisis period, is operationalised through two analyses. The findings indicate that WCM variables have more explanatory power (R2) in the period after the crisis than during the crisis. Also, the results of the Cramer Z-statistic, which examined between sample comparisons of the R2, revealed that the Z-scores are significant, implying that a significant difference existed between the two periods. It suffices to say that WCM was affected during the financial crisis and led to low profitability, whereas, during the after-crisis period, WCM associates with higher profitability. These findings have implications for managers and policymakers because access to financing has become a global problem and adequate WCM management increases a company’s resilience to financial and external shocks. The fourth article entitled “The Influence of Technology Readiness on Information Technology Competencies and Civil Conflict Environment” by Prof. Dr. Kamil Md. Idris (Tunku Puteri Intan Safinaz School of Accountancy, College of Business, Universiti Utara Malaysia), Associate Prof. Dr. Akilah Abdullah (Tunku Puteri Intan Safinaz School of Accountancy, College of Business, Universiti Utara Malaysia), Haetham H. Kasem Alkhaffaf (OYA Graduate School of Business, College of Business, Universiti Utara Malaysia), and Al-Hasan Al-Aidaros (Islamic Business School, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Malaysia). Their study confirms prior findings that the Technology Readiness scale can capture the association among technology readiness and technology usage behaviours. The study also expands earlier research by investigating the impact of technology readiness on individual competency among accountants to using IT in a workplace under the intensity of civil conflict in Iraqi environment. The result shows that there is a positive significant relationship between technology readiness and the IT competencies of Iraqi accountants. It implies that the technology readiness regarding willingness, enthusiasm, and motivation of accountants using IT has an impact on their IT competencies. In other words, the higher the readiness of the accountants in making use of technology, the higher their competence in the use of IT. This study contributes to the body of knowledge in terms of theory, method and practice in Iraq especially and developing countries in general. The fifth article titled “Mediating effect of Quality-differentiated Auditor on the relationship between Managerial ownership and Monitoring mechanisms” and authored by Dr. Rachael Oluyemisi Arowolo (Chrisland University, Nigeria), Prof. Dr. Ayoib Che-Ahmad (Tunku Puteri Intan Safinaz School of Accountancy, College of Business, Universiti Utara Malaysia), Dr. Oluwatoyin Muse Johnson Popoola (Tunku Puteri Intan Safinaz School of Accountancy, College of Business, Universiti Utara Malaysia) and Dr. Hisar Pangaribuana (Adventist University of Indonesia, Bandung, Indonesia) examines the relationship between Managerial Ownership (MO) and MMs with quality-differentiated auditors (QDA) as the channel for the relationship. Over the past decade, most studies in corporate governance and audit market emphasised the importance of monitoring mechanisms (MM), especially after the global economic meltdown resulting from the Enron saga. The literature on MM continues growing as many countries especially the Sub-Saharan Africa are still struggling to come out of the effect of the economic meltdown and businesses continues to fail or merge. The study used data from non-financial listed companies in Nigeria providing empirical supports that MO significantly associates with MMs in the right direction. Likewise, QDA also influences the MMs in the right direction suggesting that QDA is necessarily required to enhance adequate MMs. The findings of this study provide support for the association of MO and MMs with the intervention of QDA for solutions to agency problems. Companies should, therefore, motivate the management to own shares within the reasonable range that aligns the interest of the management with that of the shareholders. This paper adds to knowledge especially in Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa by examining a mediating effect to depict the relationship between MO and MM, which are not evident in prior studies It is my conviction that in the coming year, the vision of IPJAF to publish high-quality manuscripts in the established and emergent areas of accounting and finance from academic and professional researchers will be sustained and appreciated. As you read throughout this volume 2, issue 2 of IPJAF, I would like to remind you that the success of our journal depends on you, your friends and colleagues as stakeholder through the submission of high-quality articles for review and publication. Once again, I acknowledge with gratitude your continued support as we strive to make IPJAF the most authoritative journal on accounting and finance for the community of academic, professional, industry, society and government. Oluwatoyin Muse Johnson Popoola, PhD Editor-in-Chief popoola@omjpalpha.com

In the past, the TOC Thinking Process (TP) has been primarily applied to address managerial challenges in private sector manufacturing, logistics, and project-oriented organizations. The purpose of this paper is to present an application of the TOC TP in a public sector service organization, namely, the Water Utility Division Maintenance System (WUDMS) within the Albuquerque Public Works Department. The two necessary conditions for meeting the WUDMS's goal of effective management are (1) completing work in a waste-free manner and (2) responding promptly to customer requests for service. Although seven undesirable effects (UDEs) were identified by the improvement team, UDEs from three diverse areas were selected for creating the requisite conflict clouds, namely, (1) much repair work is not completed promptly, (2) WUDMS has some wasteful practices, and (3) managers are unable to schedule repair work effectively. Entities from these conflict clouds were synthesized into a core conflict cloud that revolved around the issue of dedicating more human resources to repair work or improvement efforts and that formed the base of the Current Reality Tree. By surfacing assumptions underlying entity pair relationships within the core conflict, a strategic direction for change was identified as: expansion of WUDMS capacity through the use of non-traditional resources. This injection was logically validated via a Future Reality Tree. Initial results from its implementation demonstrate that the direction of the solution is correct.

Purpose – The gap between top management and IS personnel is preventing organisations develop a competitive advantage based on IS. The purpose of this paper is thus to improve the understanding of the relationship between top management and IS personnel and to identify the key factors that are important in this relationship. Design/methodology/approach – Two separate questionnaires were used for IS department managers and top management to identify key factors in the relationship. In total, 221 CIOs and 93 CEOs agreed to participate in the research. To identify factors in the business-IS relationship an exploratory factor analysis was used. Further, factor scores were calculated and the independent samples t-test was used to compare these factor scores to reveal any significant differences in perceptions between CIOs and CEOs. Findings – The empirical investigation reveals the existence of nine factors that are important in the business-IS relationship. Seven factors are perceived differently by top management and IS management and thus causing the gap in the relationship, while two factors are similarly perceived. Practical implications – The paper presents the key areas business and IS personnel should pay attention to. Therefore, it enables reducing the business-IS gap by considering the identified factors and dedicating significant effort to the factors with significant differences. Originality/value – The paper contributes to understanding the key factors in the relationship between top and IS managers as it identifies factors that are causing the business-IS gap. Thus, it develops the existing literature since it is simultaneously focusing on managerial and IS side. The study is also valuable for researchers enabling future research in exploring these factors in detail.

An Overview of the Role of Traditional Institutions in Nigeria Mustapha Alhaji Ali Department of Political Science and Administration. Yobe State University, Damaturu. Nigeria Fatima Ahmed Department of Political Science University of Maiduguri Nigeria *Corrosponding author’s Email: mustaphaalhajiali2@gmail.com Mustapha Alhaji Ali, born in Yobe state Nigeria, a staff of Yobe State University. Currently pursuing Ph.D. Political Science in Universiti Utara Malaysia is the based eminent Management University. The University in the green forest. Fatima Ahmed was born in Borno state Nigeria, working with the University of Maiduguri. Presently pursuing Ph.D. Political Development in the University the famous university in the North-Eastern region. Peer-review under responsibility of 3rd Asia International Multidisciplanry Conference 2019 editorial board (http://www.utm.my/asia/our-team/) © 2019 Published by Readers Insight Publisher, lat 306 Savoy Residencia, Block 3 F11/1,44000 Islamabad. Pakistan, info@readersinsight.net This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Research Highlights The British officials in Nigeria framed and imposed rules and laws through the traditional rulers who only served as mediators between the people and the British officials. Though, the cultures and traditions of the Nigerian citizens were cherished and reserved by the British government in order to accept and welcome them by the citizens of the country. However, this system worked out well because of the support of the traditional rulers who claimed that since their cultures and traditions were not interfered with, they have no problem with the British authorities (Teslim, 2019). Before traditional rulers in everywhere in the world are attached with some important functions among which are contributing to development administration, linkage or "brokering" between grassroots and capital, extension of national identity through the conferral of traditional titles, low-level conflict resolution and judicial gate-keeping, ombudsmanship and institutional safety- valve for overloaded and sub-apportioned bureaucracies. In addition to the above roles, traditional rulers are meant to create educated chieftaincies meaningfully improves the success of traditional rulers (Miles, 1993). Furthermore, traditional rulers serve as another institute of conflict resolution in any nation where the state legal system is weakening to fully provide the judicial requirements of the country (Zeleke, 2011). A study by Isaac (2018) disclosed that in the olden days, traditional institutions are the administrative organizations in Nigeria. These establishments are entrenched in the history, cultures, and the traditions of several ethnic groups and cultural background. He further explained that traditional institutions plays an important role in the managerial process before, during, and after colonial rules, these institutions have contributed to the history of the nation. The role of traditional organizations was important and highly respected during these periods. Research Objectives The paper examined the roles of traditional institutions toward steady democracy To discover how efficient are these institutions in ensuring steady democracy Significance of the study This study is of great importance to the academician because it would add to the body of existing knowledge, by guiding and assisting students conducting research in a similar field of study. However, this research work is very significant because it would help the traditional institution in understanding their weakness and how to improve where necessary.This study helps in identifying the gap in the literature and it as well assists in filing the existing gap in the literature Methodology This paper is qualitative in nature because it is based on an organized review of related literature and a subtle examination of secondary data, in this case, data were established from various sources such as magazines, published and unpublished articles, books, journals, reports archives and newspaper articles (Braun & Clarke, 2013; Creswell, 2009). Research Design Under the research design the researcher adopted case study approach this is because it provides the researcher with an in-depth understanding of a phenomenon under inquiry, or it helps in providing an in-depth thoughtful of cases (Creswell, 2013; Othman, 2018). Theoretical Framework There are many theories that can explain these study, but for the purpose of this paper the researcher used two theories, these are dependency and servant leadership theory, and reason for using these theories is based on their applicability and relationship with the topic under examination, these theories dwelled on abilities of leader and leadership independence in all the society. The postulations of these theories are that traditional rulers should be an independent body, truthful, honest, loyal, responsible, forecast, sensible and above all dedication to administrative responsibilities (White and Clark, 1990; Stone, & Patterson, 2005). Findings Traditional rulers play an important role in the society by advising the elected leaders in different areas, these include; economic policy, security issues, equal sharing of goods and services, recommending aspirants for elections or appointment to serve the community, demand for good governance and general wellbeing of the people among others. Study by Lund (2006) and Osifo (2017) disclosed that before traditional institutions use religion power to settle disputes among the citizens as well as married couples in the society, it also uses religious sanctions in resolving issues related to land disputes among the people in their respective societies, and issues like robbery, and disputes between neighbors in the societies. Recommendations The paper recommended that traditional rulers should be given full independence and should be well connected into Nigeria democratic process, this would encourage them to contribute in no small measure to the social and economic development. The study further recommended that democratization of the states along traditional organization would help in enhancing economic development that would enhance the living standard of the citizens Conclusion The study concluded that traditional institutions play important roles in the olden day. By settling disputes among the citizens. They in addition help in maintaining peace and order among the general populace. References a Stone, A. G., & Patterson, K. (2005). The history of leadership focus.Servant leadership research roundtable proceedings.School of Leadership Studies, Regent University, Virginia Beach, US. Teslim, O. O. (2019). Indirect Rule in Nigeria. Victor O. (2017). 7 Roles of Traditional Rulers in Achieving Stable Democracy in Nigeria. Information Guide in Nigeria. White, L.G. & Clark, R. P. (1990). Political Analysis: Technique and Practice. California: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company. Yemisi O. I. (2018). Role of Traditional Institution in Nigeria Democratic Space: Contending Perspectives, Issues, and Potentials. Zaleha O. (2018). Important things about Qualitative Research. Zeleke, M. (2011). Ye Shakoch Chilot (the court of the sheikhs): A traditional institution of conflict resolution in Oromiya zone of Amhara regional state, Ethiopia. African Journal on Conflict Resolution, 10(1), 63–84.

I welcome you to the Volume 2 Issue 4 of Indian-Pacific Journal of Accounting and Finance (IPJAF). In this Issue 4, all the presentations are international research with emphasis on Islamic financing, entrepreneurship, corporate governance, accounting for small, medium and large enterprises and Islamic banking In the first paper captioned “Innovation Co-operation Impact on Operations of Small, Medium and Large (SML) Firms: A Malaysia Perspective”, Dr Mohammed Ndaliman Abubakar (Deputy Director Collaborations & Linkages, The Federal Polytechnic Bida, Nigeria), examine how innovation co-operation influences the activities of small, medium and large (SML) firms to become innovative and perform effectively. Using a dataset of a survey study based on Malaysian Innovation Survey (NIS) and European community innovation survey (CIS) reports, a total of 1178 firms cutting across small, medium and large (SML) companies for manufacturing and service firms were examined using an open innovation paradigm in practice to understand the extent of co-operation and collaboration in performing innovation activities. The study data were analysed using descriptive statistics and logic regression model estimation for ease of comprehension. The findings showed that almost all the companies survey were involved in performing one innovation or the other. Furthermore, it reveals that different partnership was sought for co-operation and collaboration in performing their innovations. In the second paper entitled “Corporate Governance Disclosure: The Evidence from Nigeria”, Abubakar M. Dembo (University of Bedfordshire, UK) study centres on the investigation of the level of compliance with the Nigerian Corporate Governance Code's recommendations by the six selected oil companies from 2004 to 2012. Two stages of compliance level with the Corporate Governance Disclosure Index (CGDI) were developed from 43 specific corporate governance issues based on the Nigerian Code's provisions and analysed. Firstly, the study demonstrates the degree of compliance with the CGDI for the selected companies over the survey period (2004-2012). This allows the testing of the continuous progress of the level of conformity with the Nigerian Code's provisions. Second, it measures the level of compliance with the CGDI that existed over the 2004-2009 and 2010-2012 periods respectively. The motive is to find out whether the level of compliance with corporate governance has increased over the two periods since the creation of the Nigerian Code in late 2003. The findings indicate a remarkable improvement in compliance with the Nigerian Code over the periods by the selected companies. In the third paper titled “Sub-Sahara Africa’s (SSA) infrastructure funding gap: Potentials from Sukuk financing”, Dr. Abdulazeez Adewuyi Abdurraheem (Universiti Utara Malaysia) and Prof. Dr. Asmadi Mohamed Naim (Universiti Utara Malaysia), evaluates the depth of utilisation of Islamic capital market using Sukuk instruments as another source of funding to fill the observed funding gap for infrastructure development. The study finds the use of Sukuk as a long-term financing instrument, though still at its infancy stage in the region. The paper, therefore, suggests that the SSA countries can undertake rapid and massive infrastructure developments in the area through the use of Sukuk instruments, thereby eliminating increasing sovereign debt over-hang from the conventional debt market. Their study recommends that policymakers in the region put in place required laws and regulations that will provide enabling environments for effective utilisation of Sukuk instruments for infrastructural development. Similarly, they canvass strong political will on the part of the region’s political leaders as an essential ally in nurturing strong institutions, which they argue can engender policy continuity to ensure effective and efficient management of infrastructure projects funded by Sukuk instruments. In the fourth paper entitled “Effectuation Approach in Accessing Entrepreneurial Education Significance on Students’ Entrepreneurial Intention”, Ayotunde Adetola Adelaja (Universiti Utara Malaysia), Modile Adekunle Umar (Universiti Malaysia Perlis), Mike Terkuma Soomiyol (Universiti Utara Malaysia), Iliyasu Shiyanbade Najeemdeen (Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin), and Bello Taofik Abidemi (Universiti Utara Malaysia) assess the practical significance of entrepreneurial education in enhancing students’ entrepreneurial intention. They also examine the students’ perceived importance of access to finance as a determining factor to entrepreneurship, and the moderating effect of financial access on the relationship between entrepreneurial education and entrepreneurial intention. An online survey via google form was sent out to UUM students who have at one time has entrepreneurial education exposure. The study respondents include international and local levels of both postgraduate and undergraduate students. 250 students completed the online survey within one month. The data collected were analysed using IBM SPSS version 23 with pre-installed process macro developed by Hayes (2013). The findings reveal that both entrepreneurial education and access to finance contributes significantly to their entrepreneurial intention. However, the students perceive access to finance as a causal factor to entrepreneurial intention rather than an effectuation factor. Hence, the education offered can be argued to have more of managerial implications rather than entrepreneurial consequences. In the fifth paper titled “Task performance and Skills in IR 4.0: The moderating effect of Attitude”, Dr. Oluwatoyin Muse Johnson Popoola (Universiti Utara Malaysia), Prof. Dr. Ayoib Che Ahmad (Universiti Utara Malaysia), Dr. Rachael Oluyemisi Arowolo (Chrisland University, Nigeria), and Dr. Mazrah Malek (Universiti Utara Malaysia) examine the moderating impact of attitude (ATT) on skills (SK) and task performance fraud risk assessment (TPFRA) of professional accountants conceptually. This study possesses the capacity to impact the ethical, legal, regulatory, and institutional framework. Furthermore, the study possesses the abilities to persuade the efficient and effective policy formulations and enhance capacity building of the workforce in the public sector. To the best of the researchers’ knowledge, this may perhaps be the first conceptual study on the accountant's attitude as an indispensable capability requirement for skills and task performance fraud risk assessment in the specific working environment. The IPJAF existence is anchored on the service and dedication of its editorial board, the editorial team, and authors. I firmly believe that in the coming year, 2019, the vision of IPJAF to publish high-quality manuscripts within the scope of IPJAF from academic and professional researchers will be continually maintained and acknowledged. As you read through this Vol. 2 Issue 4 of IPJAF, I would like to appreciate you profoundly for your participation in submitting high-quality papers for review and publication in IPJAF. Notwithstanding the success so far recorded, I implore you and your colleagues, friends and associates to continue to partner with IPJAF by submitting quality research and policy papers within our scope for publication. I assure our prospective authors, regardless of the acceptance of your manuscripts or not, to continue to enjoy the benefits IPJAF provides about our review process, which offers high quality and helpful reviews tailored to assist authors in improving their manuscripts. In conclusion, I acknowledge your support as you, and I work hard to make IPJAF the most authoritative journal on accounting and finance for the community of academic, professional, industry, society and government. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your continued interest, support and patronages to IPJAF in 2018, while looking forward to more beneficial relationships in 2019.

Orientation: Research shows that engaged employees experience high levels of energy and strong identification with their work, hence this study’s focus on work identity and dedication.Research purpose: This study explored possible differences in the Job Demands-Resources model (JD-R) as predictor of overall work engagement, dedication only and work-based identity, through comparative predictive analyses.Motivation for the study: This study may shed light on the dedication component of work engagement. Currently no literature indicates that the JD-R model has been used to predict work-based identity.Research design: A census-based survey was conducted amongst a target population of 23134 employees that yielded a sample of 2429 (a response rate of about 10.5%). The Job Demands- Resources scale (JDRS) was used to measure job demands and job resources. A work-based identity scale was developed for this study. Work engagement was studied with the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES). Factor and reliability analyses were conducted on the scales and general multiple regression models were used in the predictive analyses.Main findings: The JD-R model yielded a greater amount of variance in dedication than in work engagement. It, however, yielded the greatest amount of variance in work-based identity, with job resources being its strongest predictor.Practical/managerial implications: Identification and work engagement levels can be improved by managing job resources and demands.Contribution/value-add: This study builds on the literature of the JD-R model by showing that it can be used to predict work-based identity.

Orientation: South Africa’s unique cultural diversity provides a constant challenge about the fair and unbiased use of psychological measures in respect of their cross-cultural application.Research purpose: This study assesses the Differential Item Functioning (DIF) of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-17) for different South African cultural groups in a South African company.Motivation for the study: Organisations are using the UWES-17 more and more in South Africa to assess work engagement. Therefore, research evidence from psychologists or assessment practitioners on its DIF across different cultural groups is necessary.Research design, approach and method: The researchers conducted a Secondary Data Analysis (SDA) on the UWES-17 sample (n = 2429) that they obtained from a cross-sectional survey undertaken in a South African Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector company (n = 24 134). Quantitative item data on the UWES-17 scale enabled the authors to address the research question.Main findings: The researchers found uniform and/or non-uniform DIF on five of the vigour items, four of the dedication items and two of the absorption items. This also showed possible Differential Test Functioning (DTF) on the vigour and dedication dimensions.Practical/managerial implications: Based on the DIF, the researchers suggested that organisations should not use the UWES-17 comparatively for different cultural groups or employment decisions in South Africa.Contribution/value add: The study provides evidence on DIF and possible DTF for the UWES-17. However, it also raises questions about possible interaction effects that need further investigation.

Orientation: The world economy is becoming increasingly knowledge driven, and intellectual capital is now considered as a human resource that affords organisations a competitive advantage. A high turnover rate in higher education and the importance of retaining staff are concerns that have resulted in increased interest in psychological variables, such as job embeddedness and work engagement that may influence employee retention.Research purpose: The objective of this study was to explore the relationship between job embeddedness, work engagement and turnover intention of staff in a higher education institution.Motivation for the study: Research on how employees’ job embeddedness and work engagement influence their turnover intention is important in the light of organisational concerns about retaining knowledgeable staff in the current higher education environment.Research design, approach and method: A cross-sectional quantitative survey was conducted on a non-probability purposive sample (N = 153) of academic and non-academic staff in a South African higher education institution.Main findings: Correlational analyses revealed significant relationships between job embeddedness, work engagement and turnover intention. Multiple regression analyses showed that organisational links and dedication significantly and negatively predict turnover intention.Practical/managerial implications: When designing retention strategies, management and human resource practitioners need to recognise how job embeddedness and work engagement influence the turnover intention of higher education staff.Contribution: These findings contribute valuable new knowledge that can be applied in the retention of staff in the higher education environment.

Orientation: Engaged employees contribute to the success and productivity of an organisation. Satisfaction of basic psychological needs and organisational commitment (job attitudes) impact positively on work engagement of the lecturing staff.Research purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of basic psychological need satisfaction and organisational commitment on work engagement of the lecturing staff.Motivation for the study: Organisations realise their objectives through their employees. When employees are not satisfied or committed at work, it can result in low levels of work engagement, absenteeism, exhaustion, cynicism, low productivity and turnover.Research approach/design and method: A cross-sectional survey design was used to collect data of the lecturing staff at the University of Namibia (n = 242). Cronbach’s alpha coefficients, Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple regression analyses were used to analyse the data.Main findings: This study found a positive relationship between basic psychological need satisfaction, organisational commitment and work engagement. Normative and affective commitment was found to be significant predictors of vigour, dedication and absorption (work engagement).Practical/managerial implications: Organisations need to include staff members in the decision-making process, allow employees to direct work-related activities, conduct team-building activities, provide training and development activities and regularly assess job satisfaction of the employees.Contribution/value-add: The novelty of this study in Namibia will add to knowledge within industrial or organisational psychology, encourage future research and guide the development of interventions.

Orientation: The positive organisation creates a framework in which its elements can be investigated in relation to the retention of talent.Research purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate if leader empowering behaviour can positively impact on role clarity, psychological empowerment and work engagement, with the final outcome being the retention of talent.Motivation for the study: In the ever changing work environment organisations place great emphasis on their human capital. The positive organisation utilises specific elements to optimise human capital’s potential. It is therefore important to identify the elements contributing to a positive organisation as well as the elements which lead to the retention of talent.Research design, approach and method: A survey research design was used. A convenience sample (n = 179) was taken from a business unit in a chemical organisation. The Leader Empowering Behaviour Questionnaire, Measures of Role Clarity and Ambiguity Questionnaire, Measuring Empowerment Questionnaire, Utrecht Work Engagement Scale and the Intention to Leave Scale were administered.Main findings: Leader empowering behaviour, role clarity and psychological empowerment predicted work engagement. Role clarity interacted with competence to affect employees’ dedication and interacted with the development of employees to affect absorption. Work engagement predicted employees’ intention to leave.Practical/managerial implications: Organisations should foster the elements of a positive organisation if they want to retain their talent.Contribution/value-add: The results of this research contribute to scientific knowledge about the effects of a positive organisation on retention.

Orientation: Knowledge of the factors associated with employee engagement is important for practitioners and researchers in industrial/organisational psychology in South Africa.Research purpose: The objective of this study was to investigate the factors associated with employee engagement using two models, namely the personal engagement model of Kahn (1990), and the work engagement model of Schaufeli and Bakker (2004).Motivation for the study: Scientific knowledge is needed regarding the factors that are associated with employee engagement.Research design, approach and method: Survey designs were used with two samples taken from various South African organisations (n = 467 and n = 3775). The Work Engagement Scale, the Psychological Conditions Scale and the Antecedents Scale were administered for purposes of study 1. The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale and the Job Demands-Resources Scale were administered for purposes of study 2.Main findings: The results of study 1 showed that two psychological conditions, namely psychological meaningfulness and psychological availability, were positively associated with employee engagement. Work role fit was the best predictor of psychological meaningfulness and employee engagement. The results of study 2 showed that all job resources were positively associated with employee engagement. Organisational support and growth opportunities were the best predictors of vigour, dedication and absorption.Pratical/managerial implications: Interventions to increase employee engagement should focus on work role fit. Job resources, including an intrinsically rewarding job, organisational support and advancement opportunities should be made available to increase employees’ engagement.Contribution/value-add: This study isolated the most important factors associated with employee engagement in South Africa.

Abstract While public awareness on health issues is increasing, it has become more significant for the public funded health sector to retain the trust of its patients. It is specifically important in a country like Pakistan where the burden of patients in terms of number is compounded by recurring diseases outbreaks. Recent evidence shows that well-thought management systems can ease the pressure on provision of health services to a larger extent than previously anticipated. To address the managerial challenges of secondary care hospitals, health policy planners of the Punjab (Pakistan) had introduced a New Management Structures (NMS) 'team of non-clinical management graduates' under the Revamping Program of District & Tehsil Headquarter D/THQ hospitals in 2016. After 3 years of execution, a study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of this initiative. 24 in-depth interviews were conducted with the relevant stakeholders and 10 FGDs were conducted with the NMS teams. Thematic analysis & field observations were used to facilitate the presentation of results. The findings show that NMS teams have ensured greater efficiency in management operations of hospitals. Most of the research participants were appreciated for their skills and dedication to work. The hospital and district Health administrators were satisfied with the concept and need of NMS in healthcare system. They claimed that the need for NMS was justified and the intervention has significantly contributed to address the shortcomings inherent in the old management system. However, few stakeholders highlighted the need for further capacity building and robust service structure of NMS teams. The NMS initiative across all secondary hospitals of Punjab has improved the overall quality of healthcare service delivery in D/THQ Hospitals. It can be safely concluded that a specialized workforce in form of NMS is vital in ensuring smooth transition and up-gradation of hospitals under the revamping project Key messages Healthcare delivery is moving towards more specialized skills in terms of both healthcare services and management. NMS is vital in ensuring smooth transition and up-gradation of D/THQ hospitals.

Although I'm a rich white guy, I'm also a feminist anti-racism activist who fights for the rights of the poor and oppressed. (Carl Kenner)Systemic bias is a scourge to the pillar of neutrality. (Cerejota)Count me in. Let's leave the bias to the mainstream media. (Orcar967)Because this is so important. (CuttingEdge)These are a handful of comments posted by online editors who have banded together in a virtual coalition to combat Western bias on the world’s largest digital encyclopedia, Wikipedia. This collective action by Wikipedians both acknowledges the inherent inequalities of a user-controlled information project like Wikpedia and highlights the potential for progressive change within that same project. These community members are taking the responsibility of social change into their own hands (or more aptly, their own keyboards).In recent years much research has emerged on Wikipedia from varying fields, ranging from computer science, to business and information systems, to the social sciences. While critical at times of Wikipedia’s growth, governance, and influence, most of this work observes with optimism that barriers to improvement are not firmly structural, but rather they are socially constructed, leaving open the possibility of important and lasting change for the better.WikiProject: Countering Systemic Bias (WP:CSB) considers one such collective effort. Close to 350 editors have signed on to the project, which began in 2004 and itself emerged from a similar project named CROSSBOW, or the “Committee Regarding Overcoming Serious Systemic Bias on Wikipedia.” As a WikiProject, the term used for a loose group of editors who collaborate around a particular topic, these editors work within the Wikipedia site and collectively create a social network that is unified around one central aim—representing the un- and underrepresented—and yet they are bound by no particular unified set of interests. The first stage of a multi-method study, this paper looks at a snapshot of WP:CSB’s activity from both content analysis and social network perspectives to discover “who” geographically this coalition of the unrepresented is inserting into the digital annals of Wikipedia.Wikipedia and WikipediansDeveloped in 2001 by Internet entrepreneur Jimmy Wales and academic Larry Sanger, Wikipedia is an online collaborative encyclopedia hosting articles in nearly 250 languages (Cohen). The English-language Wikipedia contains over 3.2 million articles, each of which is created, edited, and updated solely by users (Wikipedia “Welcome”). At the time of this study, Alexa, a website tracking organisation, ranked Wikipedia as the 6th most accessed site on the Internet. Unlike the five sites ahead of it though—Google, Facebook, Yahoo, YouTube (owned by Google), and live.com (owned by Microsoft)—all of which are multibillion-dollar businesses that deal more with information aggregation than information production, Wikipedia is a non-profit that operates on less than $500,000 a year and staffs only a dozen paid employees (Lih). Wikipedia is financed and supported by the WikiMedia Foundation, a charitable umbrella organisation with an annual budget of $4.6 million, mainly funded by donations (Middleton).Wikipedia editors and contributors have the option of creating a user profile and participating via a username, or they may participate anonymously, with only an IP address representing their actions. Despite the option for total anonymity, many Wikipedians have chosen to visibly engage in this online community (Ayers, Matthews, and Yates; Bruns; Lih), and researchers across disciplines are studying the motivations of these new online collectives (Kane, Majchrzak, Johnson, and Chenisern; Oreg and Nov). The motivations of open source software contributors, such as UNIX programmers and programming groups, have been shown to be complex and tied to both extrinsic and intrinsic rewards, including online reputation, self-satisfaction and enjoyment, and obligation to a greater common good (Hertel, Niedner, and Herrmann; Osterloh and Rota). Investigation into why Wikipedians edit has indicated multiple motivations as well, with community engagement, task enjoyment, and information sharing among the most significant (Schroer and Hertel). Additionally, Wikipedians seem to be taking up the cause of generativity (a concern for the ongoing health and openness of the Internet’s infrastructures) that Jonathan Zittrain notably called for in The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It. Governance and ControlAlthough the technical infrastructure of Wikipedia is built to support and perhaps encourage an equal distribution of power on the site, Wikipedia is not a land of “anything goes.” The popular press has covered recent efforts by the site to reduce vandalism through a layer of editorial review (Cohen), a tightening of control cited as a possible reason for the recent dip in the number of active editors (Edwards). A number of regulations are already in place that prevent the open editing of certain articles and pages, such as the site’s disclaimers and pages that have suffered large amounts of vandalism. Editing wars can also cause temporary restrictions to editing, and Ayers, Matthews, and Yates point out that these wars can happen anywhere, even to Burt Reynold’s page.Academic studies have begun to explore the governance and control that has developed in the Wikipedia community, generally highlighting how order is maintained not through particular actors, but through established procedures and norms. Konieczny tested whether Wikipedia’s evolution can be defined by Michels’ Iron Law of Oligopoly, which predicts that the everyday operations of any organisation cannot be run by a mass of members, and ultimately control falls into the hands of the few. Through exploring a particular WikiProject on information validation, he concludes:There are few indicators of an oligarchy having power on Wikipedia, and few trends of a change in this situation. The high level of empowerment of individual Wikipedia editors with regard to policy making, the ease of communication, and the high dedication to ideals of contributors succeed in making Wikipedia an atypical organization, quite resilient to the Iron Law. (189)Butler, Joyce, and Pike support this assertion, though they emphasise that instead of oligarchy, control becomes encapsulated in a wide variety of structures, policies, and procedures that guide involvement with the site. A virtual “bureaucracy” emerges, but one that should not be viewed with the negative connotation often associated with the term.Other work considers control on Wikipedia through the framework of commons governance, where “peer production depends on individual action that is self-selected and decentralized rather than hierarchically assigned. Individuals make their own choices with regard to resources managed as a commons” (Viegas, Wattenberg and McKeon). The need for quality standards and quality control largely dictate this commons governance, though interviewing Wikipedians with various levels of responsibility revealed that policies and procedures are only as good as those who maintain them. Forte, Larco, and Bruckman argue “the Wikipedia community has remained healthy in large part due to the continued presence of ‘old-timers’ who carry a set of social norms and organizational ideals with them into every WikiProject, committee, and local process in which they take part” (71). Thus governance on Wikipedia is a strong representation of a democratic ideal, where actors and policies are closely tied in their evolution. Transparency, Content, and BiasThe issue of transparency has proved to be a double-edged sword for Wikipedia and Wikipedians. The goal of a collective body of knowledge created by all—the “expert” and the “amateur”—can only be upheld if equal access to page creation and development is allotted to everyone, including those who prefer anonymity. And yet this very option for anonymity, or even worse, false identities, has been a sore subject for some in the Wikipedia community as well as a source of concern for some scholars (Santana and Wood). The case of a 24-year old college dropout who represented himself as a multiple Ph.D.-holding theology scholar and edited over 16,000 articles brought these issues into the public spotlight in 2007 (Doran; Elsworth). Wikipedia itself has set up standards for content that include expectations of a neutral point of view, verifiability of information, and the publishing of no original research, but Santana and Wood argue that self-policing of these policies is not adequate:The principle of managerial discretion requires that every actor act from a sense of duty to exercise moral autonomy and choice in responsible ways. When Wikipedia’s editors and administrators remain anonymous, this criterion is simply not met. It is assumed that everyone is behaving responsibly within the Wikipedia system, but there are no monitoring or control mechanisms to make sure that this is so, and there is ample evidence that it is not so. (141) At the theoretical level, some downplay these concerns of transparency and autonomy as logistical issues in lieu of the potential for information systems to support rational discourse and emancipatory forms of communication (Hansen, Berente, and Lyytinen), but others worry that the questionable “realities” created on Wikipedia will become truths once circulated to all areas of the Web (Langlois and Elmer). With the number of articles on the English-language version of Wikipedia reaching well into the millions, the task of mapping and assessing content has become a tremendous endeavour, one mostly taken on by information systems experts. Kittur, Chi, and Suh have used Wikipedia’s existing hierarchical categorisation structure to map change in the site’s content over the past few years. Their work revealed that in early 2008 “Culture and the arts” was the most dominant category of content on Wikipedia, representing nearly 30% of total content. People (15%) and geographical locations (14%) represent the next largest categories, while the natural and physical sciences showed the greatest increase in volume between 2006 and 2008 (+213%D, with “Culture and the arts” close behind at +210%D). This data may indicate that contributing to Wikipedia, and thus spreading knowledge, is growing amongst the academic community while maintaining its importance to the greater popular culture-minded community. Further work by Kittur and Kraut has explored the collaborative process of content creation, finding that too many editors on a particular page can reduce the quality of content, even when a project is well coordinated.Bias in Wikipedia content is a generally acknowledged and somewhat conflicted subject (Giles; Johnson; McHenry). The Wikipedia community has created numerous articles and pages within the site to define and discuss the problem. Citing a survey conducted by the University of Würzburg, Germany, the “Wikipedia:Systemic bias” page describes the average Wikipedian as:MaleTechnically inclinedFormally educatedAn English speakerWhiteAged 15-49From a majority Christian countryFrom a developed nationFrom the Northern HemisphereLikely a white-collar worker or studentBias in content is thought to be perpetuated by this demographic of contributor, and the “founder effect,” a concept from genetics, linking the original contributors to this same demographic has been used to explain the origins of certain biases. Wikipedia’s “About” page discusses the issue as well, in the context of the open platform’s strengths and weaknesses:in practice editing will be performed by a certain demographic (younger rather than older, male rather than female, rich enough to afford a computer rather than poor, etc.) and may, therefore, show some bias. Some topics may not be covered well, while others may be covered in great depth. No educated arguments against this inherent bias have been advanced.Royal and Kapila’s study of Wikipedia content tested some of these assertions, finding identifiable bias in both their purposive and random sampling. They conclude that bias favoring larger countries is positively correlated with the size of the country’s Internet population, and corporations with larger revenues work in much the same way, garnering more coverage on the site. The researchers remind us that Wikipedia is “more a socially produced document than a value-free information source” (Royal & Kapila).WikiProject: Countering Systemic BiasAs a coalition of current Wikipedia editors, the WikiProject: Countering Systemic Bias (WP:CSB) attempts to counter trends in content production and points of view deemed harmful to the democratic ideals of a valueless, open online encyclopedia. WP:CBS’s mission is not one of policing the site, but rather deepening it:Generally, this project concentrates upon remedying omissions (entire topics, or particular sub-topics in extant articles) rather than on either (1) protesting inappropriate inclusions, or (2) trying to remedy issues of how material is presented. Thus, the first question is "What haven't we covered yet?", rather than "how should we change the existing coverage?" (Wikipedia, “Countering”)The project lays out a number of content areas lacking adequate representation, geographically highlighting the dearth in coverage of Africa, Latin America, Asia, and parts of Eastern Europe. WP:CSB also includes a “members” page that editors can sign to show their support, along with space to voice their opinions on the problem of bias on Wikipedia (the quotations at the beginning of this paper are taken from this “members” page). At the time of this study, 329 editors had self-selected and self-identified as members of WP:CSB, and this group constitutes the population sample for the current study. To explore the extent to which WP:CSB addressed these self-identified areas for improvement, each editor’s last 50 edits were coded for their primary geographical country of interest, as well as the conceptual category of the page itself (“P” for person/people, “L” for location, “I” for idea/concept, “T” for object/thing, or “NA” for indeterminate). For example, edits to the Wikipedia page for a single person like Tony Abbott (Australian federal opposition leader) were coded “Australia, P”, while an edit for a group of people like the Manchester United football team would be coded “England, P”. Coding was based on information obtained from the header paragraphs of each article’s Wikipedia page. After coding was completed, corresponding information on each country’s associated continent was added to the dataset, based on the United Nations Statistics Division listing.A total of 15,616 edits were coded for the study. Nearly 32% (n = 4962) of these edits were on articles for persons or people (see Table 1 for complete coding results). From within this sub-sample of edits, a majority of the people (68.67%) represented are associated with North America and Europe (Figure A). If we break these statistics down further, nearly half of WP:CSB’s edits concerning people were associated with the United States (36.11%) and England (10.16%), with India (3.65%) and Australia (3.35%) following at a distance. These figures make sense for the English-language Wikipedia; over 95% of the population in the three Westernised countries speak English, and while India is still often regarded as a developing nation, its colonial British roots and the emergence of a market economy with large, technology-driven cities are logical explanations for its representation here (and some estimates make India the largest English-speaking nation by population on the globe today).Table A Coding Results Total Edits 15616 (I) Ideas 2881 18.45% (L) Location 2240 14.34% NA 333 2.13% (T) Thing 5200 33.30% (P) People 4962 31.78% People by Continent Africa 315 6.35% Asia 827 16.67% Australia 175 3.53% Europe 1411 28.44% NA 110 2.22% North America 1996 40.23% South America 128 2.58% The areas of the globe of main concern to WP:CSB proved to be much less represented by the coalition itself. Asia, far and away the most populous continent with more than 60% of the globe’s people (GeoHive), was represented in only 16.67% of edits. Africa (6.35%) and South America (2.58%) were equally underrepresented compared to both their real-world populations (15% and 9% of the globe’s population respectively) and the aforementioned dominance of the advanced Westernised areas. However, while these percentages may seem low, in aggregate they do meet the quota set on the WP:CSB Project Page calling for one out of every twenty edits to be “a subject that is systematically biased against the pages of your natural interests.” By this standard, the coalition is indeed making headway in adding content that strategically counterbalances the natural biases of Wikipedia’s average editor.Figure ASocial network analysis allows us to visualise multifaceted data in order to identify relationships between actors and content (Vego-Redondo; Watts). Similar to Davis’s well-known sociological study of Southern American socialites in the 1930s (Scott), our Wikipedia coalition can be conceptualised as individual actors united by common interests, and a network of relations can be constructed with software such as UCINET. A mapping algorithm that considers both the relationship between all sets of actors and each actor to the overall collective structure produces an image of our network. This initial network is bimodal, as both our Wikipedia editors and their edits (again, coded for country of interest) are displayed as nodes (Figure B). Edge-lines between nodes represents a relationship, and here that relationship is the act of editing a Wikipedia article. We see from our network that the “U.S.” and “England” hold central positions in the network, with a mass of editors crowding around them. A perimeter of nations is then held in place by their ties to editors through the U.S. and England, with a second layer of editors and poorly represented nations (Gabon, Laos, Uzbekistan, etc.) around the boundaries of the network.Figure BWe are reminded from this visualisation both of the centrality of the two Western powers even among WP:CSB editoss, and of the peripheral nature of most other nations in the world. But we also learn which editors in the project are contributing most to underrepresented areas, and which are less “tied” to the Western core. Here we see “Wizzy” and “Warofdreams” among the second layer of editors who act as a bridge between the core and the periphery; these are editors with interests in both the Western and marginalised nations. Located along the outer edge, “Gallador” and “Gerrit” have no direct ties to the U.S. or England, concentrating all of their edits on less represented areas of the globe. Identifying editors at these key positions in the network will help with future research, informing interview questions that will investigate their interests further, but more significantly, probing motives for participation and action within the coalition.Additionally, we can break the network down further to discover editors who appear to have similar interests in underrepresented areas. Figure C strips down the network to only editors and edits dealing with Africa and South America, the least represented continents. From this we can easily find three types of editors again: those who have singular interests in particular nations (the outermost layer of editors), those who have interests in a particular region (the second layer moving inward), and those who have interests in both of these underrepresented regions (the center layer in the figure). This last group of editors may prove to be the most crucial to understand, as they are carrying the full load of WP:CSB’s mission.Figure CThe End of Geography, or the Reclamation?In The Internet Galaxy, Manuel Castells writes that “the Internet Age has been hailed as the end of geography,” a bold suggestion, but one that has gained traction over the last 15 years as the excitement for the possibilities offered by information communication technologies has often overshadowed structural barriers to participation like the Digital Divide (207). Castells goes on to amend the “end of geography” thesis by showing how global information flows and regional Internet access rates, while creating a new “map” of the world in many ways, is still closely tied to power structures in the analog world. The Internet Age: “redefines distance but does not cancel geography” (207). The work of WikiProject: Countering Systemic Bias emphasises the importance of place and representation in the information environment that continues to be constructed in the online world. This study looked at only a small portion of this coalition’s efforts (~16,000 edits)—a snapshot of their labor frozen in time—which itself is only a minute portion of the information being dispatched through Wikipedia on a daily basis (~125,000 edits). Further analysis of WP:CSB’s work over time, as well as qualitative research into the identities, interests and motivations of this collective, is needed to understand more fully how information bias is understood and challenged in the Internet galaxy. The data here indicates this is a fight worth fighting for at least a growing few.ReferencesAlexa. “Top Sites.” Alexa.com, n.d. 10 Mar. 2010 ‹http://www.alexa.com/topsites>. Ayers, Phoebe, Charles Matthews, and Ben Yates. How Wikipedia Works: And How You Can Be a Part of It. 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