Search Results (490)

This study investigates the relationship between educational leadership, ICT-related factors, and students’ reading performance using the PISA 2022 dataset for Türkiye. Drawing data from 7250 students and 196 school principals, we employed multilevel structural equation modeling and Bayesian estimation. At the student level, between-school actions to sustain learning (SCHSUST) were significantly related to reading achievement. All student-level ICT variables—self-efficacy in digital competencies, practices regarding online information, and subject-related ICT use—significantly predicted reading achievement. Bayesian mediation analysis confirmed significant indirect relationships at student level, indicating that SCHSUST is associated with reading achievement primarily through ICT variables. Students’ economic, social and cultural status predicted reading achievement, indicating socioeconomic inequalities. At the school level, educational leadership (EDULEAD) has been found to be positively associated with preparedness for digital learning and school preparation for remote instruction. However, EDULEAD was negatively related to reading achievement. At the school level, all indirect relationships were insignificant. Furthermore, “economic, social and cultural status” and “academic school selectivity” emerged as the strongest predictors of reading achievement at their respective levels, indicating that the majority of reading inequality is due to substantial between-school inequality, in addition to the socioeconomic basis of digital inequality. Overall, the study highlights that meaningful ICT integration, rather than mere infrastructure provision, is associated with improved reading achievement. Full article

This paper presents the design, implementation, and assessment approach of the Blended Intensive Program (BIP) “Towards Enhanced Pedestrian Safety”, developed under the Erasmus+ framework at the University of Beira Interior in collaboration with four partner universities from Slovenia, Poland, and Croatia. The study applies the EPIC framework (Embedded, Pluralistic, Internationalized, and Connected) to the design and evaluation of a short-term, hybrid, and international learning format in Civil Engineering, addressing a gap in the literature regarding the limited availability of structured and empirically grounded approaches for the design and assessment of Blended Intensive Programs in engineering education. The research presents an applied case study design in higher education supported by a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative data from a cohort of 25 participants across different academic levels. Data collection includes performance-based assessment (tests and project evaluation), structured surveys, and qualitative feedback. The program combined digital technologies, including GIS, machine learning, and video image analysis, with problem-based and collaborative learning in a hybrid format comprising 7 h online and 35 h in person. The BIP fostered both technical competences, such as road safety diagnosis and data-driven modelling, and transversal skills, including teamwork, communication, leadership, and intercultural competence. Results from student assessment and satisfaction surveys indicate high levels of engagement, motivation, and learning achievement. The findings provide empirical support for the applicability of the EPIC framework in the design and implementation of BIPs, demonstrating its adaptability to short-term, hybrid, and international learning contexts. The study highlights the pedagogical value of integrating international collaboration, digital tools, and active learning strategies, while aligning with SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being) and SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities). Full article

This study examines the role of emotional intelligence in leadership contexts mediated by intelligent technologies, focusing on how socio-emotional processes are shaped within digital communication environments and artificial intelligence-enabled systems. Situated at the intersection of leadership and technological transformation, the study aims to clarify the thematic structure and intellectual development of this emerging research domain. A systematic bibliometric approach is employed, drawing on data from the Scopus database for 2004–2026 and integrating descriptive analysis, keyword co-occurrence mapping, and co-citation techniques. The results suggest a rapidly expanding yet fragmented body of literature structured around three principal trajectories: leadership in virtual and distributed environments, the integration of emotional processes with intelligent systems, and competence-based approaches linked to digital transformation. Across these strands, emotional intelligence is consistently associated with communication, trust, and team effectiveness, while conditions of mediated interaction increasingly shape its role. The findings further reveal a degree of conceptual dispersion alongside the absence of a standardized vocabulary. Overall, the study concludes that emotional intelligence remains central to leadership effectiveness but is reconfigured as a context-dependent capability embedded within sociotechnical systems. Full article

This study presents a bibliometric and thematic analysis of intercultural intelligence research in digitally mediated contexts. Using a dataset of 92 journal articles indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection between 2006 and April 2026, the study maps the intellectual structure, collaboration patterns, and thematic evolution of the field. Data were analyzed using the Bibliometrix R package (version 5.3.0) and Biblioshiny through performance analysis, science mapping, co-citation analysis, collaboration networks, and thematic mapping techniques. The findings indicate that research output has expanded considerably since the mid-2010s, reflecting the growing importance of intercultural competencies in digitally connected environments. The intellectual structure of the field remains strongly anchored in cultural intelligence theory while increasingly incorporating themes related to communication, trust, global virtual teams, leadership, and digitally mediated collaboration. Thematic evolution analyses reveal a gradual shift from traditional cultural intelligence constructs toward broader concerns associated with virtual interaction, digitally mediated collaboration, and emerging AI-supported communication environments. The results also demonstrate a highly collaborative and internationally connected research landscape, although notable geographical imbalances remain. By providing a systematic overview of the field, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of how intercultural intelligence scholarship is evolving in response to digital transformation and offers directions for future interdisciplinary research. Full article

Collaboration is increasingly treated as a core capability in contemporary working life, yet leadership-development research suggests that developmental efforts often remain too generic, weakly contextualized, and insufficiently connected to the conditions under which participants must learn and perform. This theory-informed exploratory study examines how Norwegian union representatives define, operationalize, and reflect on collaborative capability development within a semester-long university course. The study adopts a qualitative document design based on 25 written course reports produced by Parat union representatives enrolled in the course Collaboration for the Future Working Life at Kristiania University of Applied Sciences in autumn 2025. The reports are analyzed as structured reflective development documents using cross-case thematic analysis. Conceptually, the article draws on collaboration research, leadership development, self-directed learning, self-leadership, and job demands–resources theory. The findings indicate that participants conceptualized collaborative capability as a multidimensional professional capability combining dialogic competence, trust-building, psychological safety, role-based bridge-building, assertive boundary-setting, and self-regulation under pressure. Development was typically organized through iterative practice cycles of self-evaluation, feedback, goal setting, monitoring routines, micro-practices for attention and stress regulation, environmental redesign, implementation, reflection, and adjustment. At the same time, the reports suggest that collaborative development was constrained by time pressure, emotional exposure, cumulative role demands, and fluctuating energy. Reported outcomes were typically incremental, including clearer communication, increased awareness of triggers, stronger boundary-setting, more sustainable role professionalism, and improved presence under strain. The article contributes a bounded, context-sensitive account of collaborative capability development as a self-directed, self-regulated, and resource-sensitive process of professional becoming. It further develops two connected practical–theoretical models: the Performance Pyramid, which clarifies the developmental architecture from identity awareness to energy and capability regulation and performance enactment, and the Self-Leadership Wheel of Becoming, which functions as an operational scaffold for self-evaluation, goal setting, feasible program design, implementation, reflection, and revision. Rather than presenting these models as universally validated, the article positions them as heuristic and processual contributions for understanding and supporting capability development in collaboration-intensive roles. Full article

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the food and beverage industry play an important role in advancing business sustainability in emerging economies. However, many resource-endowed SMEs remain unable to translate their potential into sustainable business outcomes. This study examines the factors influencing the business sustainability of food and beverage SMEs in Northeastern Thailand and explains how organizational capabilities are hierarchically structured to create sustainable competitive advantage. A mixed-methods design was employed. Qualitative in-depth interviews with entrepreneurship-incubation experts and entrepreneurs revealed that SME sustainability problems were closely associated with weak planning practices, limited market knowledge, informal financial systems, and insufficient product development capability. These insights informed the development of the research instrument. Quantitative data were then collected from 401 entrepreneurs in the three highest-GPP provinces: Nakhon Ratchasima, Khon Kaen, and Ubon Ratchathani. Structural equation modelling was used to test causal relationships among strategic planning, finance and accounting, leadership, business knowledge, product development, external factors, and business sustainability. The model demonstrated acceptable fit and explained 92% of the variance in business sustainability. Strategic planning emerged as the strongest direct driver, supported by business knowledge and product development as complementary capabilities. Finance, leadership, and external factors showed no significant direct effects. The study proposes a Planning-Centric Sustainability Model and contributes to Resource-Based View, Competency-Based View, and Dynamic Capabilities perspectives in emerging economies. Full article

Against the backdrop of substantial transformations in the education system, including digitalization and increasing societal pluralization, there is growing attention paid to teachers’ digital competencies and their role within broader school well-being processes in digitally transforming educational environments. This paper adopts digital competencies as a novel domain-specific personal resource within the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) framework to examine how both individual and organizational resources shape teachers’ professional motivation and organizational commitment. The analysis draws on data from the ‘Deisel’ project, comprising 550 teachers in Germany. Within this empirical context, this study reveals considerable variation in both teachers’ digital competencies and the organizational conditions of schools. In particular, differences in leadership support and collegial collaboration influence whether digital transformation is experienced as an additional burden or as a meaningful resource for professional development. The findings indicate a small but statistically significant indirect association between digital competencies and organizational commitment, operating primarily through reduced psychological strain rather than increased motivation. Prior evidence emphasizing the relevance of school management support and self-efficacy was replicated. These results demonstrate that digital competencies function as a personal resource within the JD-R framework, reducing perceived strain and indirectly strengthening organizational commitment. This study contributes to JD-R research by showing that digital competencies appear to function less as direct motivational drivers and more as domain-specific personal resources that may mitigate the strain associated with technology-related demands in digitally transforming schools. Full article

This paper examines leadership characteristics within local self-governments in the Republic of Serbia through a comparative analysis of leaders’ self-assessments and associates’ evaluations. Drawing on the Johari Window framework, the study explores differences in the perception of leadership attributes from two complementary perspectives. The sample consisted of 150 participants occupying managerial positions within different municipal administrations. The findings indicate that capability is the dominant leadership attribute across both respondent groups, followed by energy, reliability, intelligence, and responsibility. However, notable discrepancies were identified between self-perception and external evaluation, particularly regarding adaptive and interpersonal characteristics. The results further suggest that leadership perception in transitional institutional environments is strongly influenced by organizational uncertainty and institutional instability. Emotional and relational attributes appear to be less emphasized, whereas functional competencies and managerial effectiveness remain highly valued. The study contributes to contemporary leadership research by highlighting the importance of contextual and relational dimensions in the interpretation of leadership characteristics. In addition, the findings offer practical implications for leadership development within public administration systems. Full article

This study examines the relationship between emotional intelligence and enterprise risk management maturity among risk leaders in Indonesia’s financial services sector, adopting a workplace accountability perspective to explain how leadership behavioural competencies support effective risk ownership, risk communication, and accountable risk decision-making. Drawing on survey data from 280 board-level executives holding the Qualified Risk Governance Professional credential, the study measures emotional intelligence using the Bar-On EQ-i and enterprise risk management maturity using the RIMS Risk Maturity Model. The findings reveal a strong and positive association between emotional intelligence and enterprise risk management maturity, with interpersonal competence and adaptability exhibiting the strongest associations with ERM maturity, while no significant differences are observed across job roles or organisational size. By empirically examining the association between leadership emotional capabilities and the institutionalisation of risk governance, the study contributes to global management and the literature on risk by extending enterprise risk management research beyond technical frameworks and compliance models, particularly within emerging market contexts. The results suggest that emotional intelligence may represent a transferable governance capability that is relevant to organisations operating in complex, uncertain, and globally interconnected environments. Practically, the study suggests that emotional intelligence development may represent a useful complement to leadership and risk capability programmes aimed at supporting risk culture, cross-functional engagement, and accountability. Full article

Background/Aims: The increasing complexity of disasters requires effective integration of nurses into Civil Defense (CD) systems. Despite their crucial role, the competencies needed to operate within these multi-agency frameworks remain fragmented and insufficiently defined. The main aim of the study was to map nursing competencies for disaster response within the CD context, identifying essential skills, contextual variations, and barriers to application. Methods: A scoping review was conducted following the JBI methodology and reported according to PRISMA-ScR guidelines. Major databases (PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, Embase) were searched without time limits, resulting in the inclusion of 27 studies published between 2011 and 2025. Results: 12 core competency domains were identified. Clinical care was the most cited competency (70% of studies), followed by communication (63%), leadership (60%), triage (48%), and psychosocial support (48%). The lack of specific training emerged as the primary individual barrier (44%), while the absence of standardized curricula was the leading systemic obstacle (41%). Competency requirements varied significantly based on the hazard type and organizational setting. Conclusions: Disaster nursing is emerging as an essential specialized field in response to the increasing frequency of climate-related events and global conflicts. There is an urgent need to move beyond purely clinical training to integrate “organizational literacy” and psychological resilience, harmonizing educational pathways with national CD policies and competency-based disaster preparedness programs. Full article

Hierarchical Public Sector Organizations (PSOs), particularly military organizations, face persistent challenges in sustaining innovation due to structural rigidity, hierarchical control, and embedded resistance to change. While existing literature explains why innovation emerges and why it is resisted, significantly less attention has been devoted to understanding how innovation becomes institutionalized as a sustained organizational capability. This study addresses this gap by introducing the Bi-focal Innovation Contagion Model (BICM), an agent-based framework that conceptualizes innovation diffusion and resistance as a co-evolutionary “tug-of-war” between competing organizational forces. The model integrates top-down governance mechanisms and bottom-up innovation processes, capturing how heterogeneous actors interact within hierarchical systems to shape the diffusion, assimilation, and stabilization of innovation over time. Using the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as an empirical source case, the model explores how Innovation Management Systems (IMS) may be designed to support the institutionalization of innovation as a self-sustaining organizational capability within hierarchical PSOs. Simulation results suggest that hybrid innovation architectures may better sustain innovation across varying leadership conditions. This occurs when centralized strategic coordination is combined with decentralized innovation activity and supported by mature innovation agents with sufficient centrality and hierarchical reinforcement. The findings highlight the critical role of IMS as an organizational architecture for achieving anti-fragility, enabling innovation dynamics to persist, adapt, and strengthen in the face of uncertainty, leadership turnover, and shifting strategic priorities. By integrating agent-based modeling with organizational theory, this study contributes a dynamic framework for understanding and designing sustainable innovation systems in hierarchical PSOs. Full article

Background/Objectives: Effective clinical leadership is a critical driver of healthcare quality, patient safety, and organisational performance. However, evidence on the leadership competencies of healthcare professionals in formal management roles remains fragmented. It is dispersed across professional groups, healthcare contexts, and conceptual frameworks, limiting opportunities for synthesis and cumulative knowledge development. This systematic review examined three questions: how clinical managers perceive their leadership competency; what challenges they encounter in exercising leadership roles; and what development mechanisms the literature identifies. Methods: A systematic review was conducted following PRISMA 2020 guidelines and registered in PROSPERO (CRD420261305279). Four databases were searched: Ovid MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMCARE, and Web of Science from January 2010 to February 2026. Two reviewers independently screened studies; methodological quality was assessed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT). Reported competencies were mapped to the five domains of the Clinical Leadership Competency Framework (CLCF) using narrative integrative synthesis. Results: Forty-nine studies were included across quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods designs from 24 countries. Competencies in the Working with Others and Demonstrating Personal Qualities domains were reported as strengths across the largest number of included studies. Competencies in Managing Services, Improving Services, and Setting Direction were reported as areas of weakness or developmental need across multiple studies. Leadership challenges included inadequate preparation, role ambiguity, limited authority, and organisational constraints. Development needs spanned formal training, strategic competency building, mentoring, and sustained organisational support. Conclusions: Clinical leadership competency is unevenly distributed across CLCF domains. This pattern reflects not only individual developmental gaps but also the organisational and contextual conditions that shape how leadership is enacted in practice. The findings support a contextual-relational model of clinical leadership. Both individual capability and enabling organisational conditions must be addressed to strengthen leadership effectiveness across healthcare systems. Full article

Cariño (care) should be central to equity-centered transformation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) higher education. Yet, relational leadership practices that prioritize culturally grounded care—such as cariño—are often absent in STEM initiatives, leaving unexamined how Women of Color (WOC) enact these practices to advance equity for historically marginalized students. Employing a qualitative methodology grounded in Chicana Feminist Epistemology, in-depth interviews were conducted with five WOC leading a multi-institutional, federally funded STEM initiative. Analysis revealed four interrelated dimensions of what we are calling “Cariño Competence”: (1) relational attunement grounded in moral obligation, (2) protective action when project systems fail students, (3) boundary-setting as care and resistance to extractive labor, and (4) community-sustained resilience through networks of WOC leaders. The findings offer a data-driven theorization of Cariño Competence, capturing how WOC operationalize culturally grounded care as a strategic, protective, and resistive praxis. By centering students as the moral and epistemic anchor of leadership decisions, this study demonstrates how relational, culturally sustaining practices can humanize bureaucratic systems, buffer harm, and advance systemic transformation in STEM higher education. These insights contribute to scholarship on culturally responsive leadership and provide a practical framework for advancing equity, inclusion, and empowerment in higher education contexts. Full article

Digital leadership, as a core organizational capability driving technological transformation, plays a pivotal role in the digitalization of traditional industries. Focusing on employees of Sichuan Baijiu enterprises in China and grounded in upper echelons theory, this study develops a theoretical framework in which digital leadership and organizational learning influence organizational innovation through the mediating mechanism of employees’ digital capabilities. Using survey data from 309 employees of Baijiu enterprises, we employ partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to test our hypotheses. The empirical results reveal three key findings: (1) digital leadership positively affects organizational innovation by enhancing employees’ digital capabilities; (2) employees’ digital capabilities partially mediate the relationships between digital leadership and organizational innovation, as well as between organizational learning and innovation outcomes; and (3) these capabilities serve as a critical transmission channel that amplifies the effect of organizational learning on innovation, thereby forming a “learning–capability–innovation” chain. This study extends upper echelons theory to the digital transformation context of traditional manufacturing industries. By introducing employee-level digital capabilities as a key mediating variable, it provides both theoretical insights and practical implications for Baijiu enterprises and analogous traditional industries seeking to foster innovation through strengthening digital leadership, building learning-oriented organizations, and developing employees’ digital competencies. Full article

Leadership competency is critical for sustainable organizational performance, yet the mechanisms driving this relationship in high power distance (HPD) emerging markets remain underexplored. Western-centric models predominantly emphasize employee engagement, often overlooking contextual institutional and cultural pathways. This study tests a dual-pathway model wherein leadership competency influences sustainable performance via psychological activation (employee engagement) and institutional embedding (organizational culture). Three-wave, multi-source data were collected from 215 leadership units in Ethiopia’s commercial banking sector and analyzed using structural equation modeling (5000 bootstrap resamples) and dominance analysis. Results reveal statistically significant but modest indirect effects. Among the two mediators, the institutional pathway (organizational culture) transmits approximately twice the relative influence of the psychological pathway (employee engagement): 24.8% versus 11.1% of total effect (β = 0.058, 95% CI [0.014, 0.109] versus β = 0.026, 95% CI [0.010, 0.046]). Dominance analysis, computed over the two mediators only, indicates culture’s greater relative explanatory weight (68.2% versus 31.8%, p = 0.003). However, leadership competency retains a substantial direct effect (64.1% of total effect), meaning the dual pathways collectively account for only 35.9% of leadership’s total influence. A robustness test using archival performance data alone yields a smaller but directionally consistent institutional indirect effect (β = 0.041, 95% CI [0.009, 0.078]), while the psychological pathway becomes non-significant, suggesting that the institutional route is robust but modest once perceptual common-source variance is removed. These findings contextualize engagement-dominant Western models by demonstrating that cultural embedding operates as a relatively stronger mediator in HPD settings. The modest absolute mediation effects and persistent direct path highlight the need for context-sensitive leadership development and suggest that additional institutional or capability-driven mechanisms warrant future investigation. Full article