Generation Z (Gen Z) will account for a growing proportion of the global workforce in the coming years. Therefore, it is vitally important to understand this generation’s unique perspectives and preferences regarding work. This exploratory study examines the prioritisation and desirability of Gen Z work values according to respondents’ nationality. Data for this study was collected through a survey among 1188 undergraduate students enrolled in one university each in China, Germany, the Netherlands and Thailand. ANOVA test and Tukey post-hoc analysis were used to find out the difference between the groups based on nationality. Findings indicate nationality serves as a key differentiator in work value preferences. The findings challenge the concept of a global Generation Z as only two of the measured values, learning and visible results, were found to have universal appeal across the nationality groups. Despite increased levels of global interconnectedness and accompanying crossvergence of values, the results show significant statistical differences in work values based on the respondents’ nationality. Due to the scope and explorative design of the present study, it cannot be certain that the findings are exclusively from Gen Z characteristics or influenced by other, non-cultural, variables. This study suggests there is a need for study programmes at a tertiary level to embed experiential learning components and individual study pathways in their curricula to enable students to develop realistic expectations about the workplace and their place in it. In turn, these programmes will be able to develop a competitive advantage in HE landscape. The insights gained can be leveraged by internationally oriented study programmes, such as International Business (IB), to better address Gen Z needs and expectations.
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A previous study found a variety of unusual sexual interests to cluster in a five-factor structure, namely submission/masochism, forbidden sexual activities, dominance / sadism, mysophilia, and fetishism (Schippers et al., 2021). The current study was an empirical replication to examine whether these findings generalized to a representative population sample. An online, anonymous sample (N = 256) representative of the Dutch adult male population rated 32 unusual sexual interests on a scale from 1 (very unappealing) to 7 (very appealing). An exploratory factor analysis assessed whether similar factors would emerge as in the original study. A subsequent confirmatory factor analysis served to confirm the factor structure. Four slightly different factors of sexual interest were found: extreme, illegal and mysophilic sexual activities; light BDSM without real pain or suffering; heavy BDSM that may include pain or suffering; and illegal but lower-sentenced and fetishistic sexual activities. The model fit was acceptable. The representative replication sample was more sexually conservative and showed less sexual engagement than the original convenience sample. On a fundamental level, sexual interest in light BDSM activities and extreme, forbidden, and mysophilic activities seem to be relatively separate constructs.
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A construction method is given for all factors that satisfy the assumptions of the model for factor analysis, including partially determined factors where certain error variances are zero. Various criteria for the seriousness of indeterminacy are related. It is shown that B. F. Green's (1976) conjecture holds: For a linear factor predictor the mean squared error of prediction is constant over all possible factors. A simple and general geometric interpretation of factor indeterminacy is given on the basis of the distance between multiple factors. It is illustrated that variable elimination can have a large effect on the seriousness of factor indeterminacy. A simulation study reveals that if the mean square error of factor prediction equals .5, then two thirds of the persons are "correctly" selected by the best linear factor predictor. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved)
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The pace of technology advancements continues to accelerate, and impacts the nature of systems solutions along with significant effects on involved stakeholders and society. Design and engineering practices with tools and perspectives, need therefore to evolve in accordance to the developments that complex, sociotechnical innovation challenges pose. There is a need for engineers and designers that can utilize fitting methods and tools to fulfill the role of a changemaker. Recognized successful practices include interdisciplinary methods that allow for effective and better contextualized participatory design approaches. However, preliminary research identified challenges in understanding what makes a specific method effective and successfully contextualized in practice, and what key competences are needed for involved designers and engineers to understand and adopt these interdisciplinary methods. In this proposal, case study research is proposed with practitioners to gain insight into what are the key enabling factors for effective interdisciplinary participatory design methods and tools in the specific context of sociotechnical innovation. The involved companies are operating at the intersection between design, technology and societal impact, employing experts who can be considered changemakers, since they are in the lead of creative processes that bring together diverse groups of stakeholders in the process of sociotechnical innovation. A methodology will be developed to capture best practices and understand what makes the deployed methods effective. This methodology and a set of design guidelines for effective interdisciplinary participatory design will be delivered. In turn this will serve as a starting point for a larger design science research project, in which an educational toolkit for effective participatory design for socio-technical innovation will be designed.
Social enterprises (SEs) can play an important role in addressing societal problems. SEs are businesses whose primary objective is to generate social impact (e.g. well-being, social wealth and cohesion, and ecology) through a market-based model. SEs achieve this through a hybrid business model, trading-off financial and social value creation objectives. SEs typically face higher costs, for example because of ethical sourcing principles and/or production processes centering around the needs of workers who are vulnerable or hard-to-employ. This results in SEs’ struggling to scale-up due to their relatively costly operating model. Traditional management techniques are not always appropriate, as they do not take into account the tensions between financial and social value creation objectives of SEs. Our project examines how continuous improvement, and in particular the philosophy and tools of Lean can be harnessed to improve SEs competitiveness. Lean organizations share many values with SEs, such as respect for people, suggesting a good fit between the values and principles of Lean and those of SEs. The consortium for this project is a cooperation between the research groups Improving Business and New Marketing of the Center of Expertise Well-Being Economy and New Entrepreneurship and the minor Continuous Improvement of AVANS Hogeschool, and the SME companies Elliz in Company and Ons Label. The project consists of two phases, an exploratory phase during which the question “in what ways can the philosophy and tools of Lean be used by Social Enterprises?” will be addressed. Interviews and focus groups will be conducted with multiple SEs (not only partners). Participant observation will be conducted by the students of the minor Continuous Improvement at the partner SEs. During the second phase, the implementation of the identified principles and tools will be operationalized through a roadmap. Action research will be conducted in cooperation with the partner SEs.
