EMPAS 13 (2) 2021

A favourable organisational culture founded on the values of employees and organisation leaders must be created to achieve goals, innovate and maintain a wellfunctioning organisation. Knowing these values and how they are influenced by various factors, such as age, the length of service, and the nature of work, must help to change employee beliefs, norms and behaviour patterns in a way that helps to achieve greater organisational success and efficiency. The study sample size consisted of 172 employees of educational institutions and 242 employees from municipal organisations. Occupational features and occupational behaviour were evaluated using a set of organisational values (Glomseth et al., 2011). The current research aimed (1) to evaluate organisational values and feature dimensions with respect to the interinstitutional level, (2) to evaluate organisational values and feature dimensions and distinguish the most prevalent with respect to the subordination level, (3) to evaluate organisational values and feature dimensions with respect to individual variables (gender, age and the length of occupational experience). The results revealed that task effectiveness, time management and cooperation, employee-orientated behaviour were stronger in educational organisations than municipal. Authoritarian management, formality and restrictions were stronger in municipal rather than educational organisations. Compared to beliefs held by subordinates, superiors claimed that positive organisational values, such as effectiveness, cooperation, and employeeorientated behaviour, were more typical in both types of institutions. Formal communication and restrictions were more typical for employees rather than managers. Subordinates but not superiors tended to perceive and evaluate organisational values, features and behaviour differently depending on gender.

Keywords:
organisational values  educational organisation  municipal organisation  subordination level 

During the past years, sustainability has become an idea of organisational development. There is a growing trend to focus more not only on yield and economic profit but also on the care for the environment and contribution to the social balance, simultaneously delivering economic, social, and environmental benefits. This paper aims to determine how employee voice can lead to a more sustainable organisation by examining the gap between employee preferences and the current situation. The quantitative method in the form of a survey was used to examine the role of employee voice in the journey towards a more sustainable organisation across different sociodemographic characteristics. Four-hundred-and-twelve complete responses from Lithuanian employees representing different business and public sector organisations were used for analysis. The results of empirical research revealed a significant gap between the employee voice (importance of sustainable behaviour) regarding economic, social and environmental issues and the manifested corresponding sustainable behaviour. The largest interval in values of the employee voice and the current situation was determined in the groups of sustainable environmental behaviour and sustainable economic behaviour.

Keywords:
employee voice  sustainability  sustainable organisation  sustainable behaviour 

During the past years, sustainability has become an idea of organisational development. There is a growing trend to focus more not only on yield and economic profit but also on the care for the environment and contribution to the social balance, simultaneously delivering economic, social, and environmental benefits. This paper aims to determine how employee voice can lead to a more sustainable organisation by examining the gap between employee preferences and the current situation. The quantitative method in the form of a survey was used to examine the role of employee voice in the journey towards a more sustainable organisation across different sociodemographic characteristics. Four-hundred-and-twelve complete responses from Lithuanian employees representing different business and public sector organisations were used for analysis. The results of empirical research revealed a significant gap between the employee voice (importance of sustainable behaviour) regarding economic, social and environmental issues and the manifested corresponding sustainable behaviour. The largest interval in values of the employee voice and the current situation was determined in the groups of sustainable environmental behaviour and sustainable economic behaviour.

Keywords:
customer experience  cosmetics  millennial women  retail  eye tracking  customer journey analysis  retrospective think aloud  in-depth interview 

The Complexity Index method is an approach developed to help manufacturing companies quantify complexity in production. This paper sheds light on the connection between complexity and manufacturing problems and how the Complexity Index method was used to capture the areas in a production line with high levels of complexity to determine the sources of manufacturing problems related to labour time, surplus production, and manufacturing error. The main areas perceived as complex were due to Work Instructions, Work Content, and Product Variants. The perceived complexities were assessed for proper actions to be taken to decrease their level of complexity. The correlations between complexity and manufacturing problems were used for tracking related issues and ways for improvement. This study presents data on the use of workers’ perception to uncover the areas of complexity, which could be used by the management team to pragmatically capture difficulties and issues related to manufacturing problems to improve the production system.

Keywords:
complexity Index  perceived complexity  complexity drivers  and manufacturing problems 

This study provides empirical indicators on the presence of alarming mental stress levels among healthcare staffs as a result of the work environment. The study uses a comprehensive survey to identify work stressors and to addresses stress symptoms and coping behaviours among the healthcare givers in Jordan as a case study. The study aims to direct management’s attention to work conditions that largely contribute to increasing mental stresses among their healthcare staffs. Moreover, the study identifies out stress symptoms that employees, team leaders and managers should not ignore to help their fellow workers cope with their stresses through legitimate coping behaviours. A total of 300 responses from 176 nurses, 45 technicians and 79 physicians from three hospitals with high patient flows were included in the statistical analyses. Results demonstrate that stressors related to high job demands, especially long working hours, have the highest impact on the development of stress among surveyed caregivers. Job-demand stressors were the most significant predictor of the symptom recurrence level with a β = 0.334. Continual tiredness and frequent headaches were the most frequent stress symptoms. Taking unprescribed medications, smoking tobacco, and faking reasons to take time off were the most common behaviours to relieve stress. This study contributes to the literature theoretically and practically. From a theoretical perspective, the study provides a comprehensive survey that captures the symptoms, relieve behaviours and work-related causes of stress. From the practical perspective, the study helps care providers and healthcare managers address and resolve work stressors and help their staff adopt healthy behaviours to relieve their stresses.

Keywords:
work stress  mental stress  work stressors  healthcare  ergonomics 

The Baltic non-life insurance market has not only continued recording a dynamic premium growth in the past three years but also has shown a significant transition to digital technologies and solutions. Here, the development of customised insurance products and systems, assessment of claims, and creation of personalised customer experience can be considered best practices in the application of theoretical concepts and, accordingly, require continuous studies from a scientific point of view. Therefore, the following research aims to present an as-is status of existing solutions of digital insurance platforms in Baltic countries and to clarify their compatibility with customisation, personalisation, and value co-creation features at the practical product and functional levels. Accordingly, a case-study method following a combination of a descriptive embedded single-case design and the state-of-the-art method was applied in the analysis of the non-life insurance market, its e-channel environment, and platforms of three Baltic countries — Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. The multidimensional assessment matrix has been designed to present the results of the case study analysis on the practical product and functional levels. Research results refer to an assumption that ideas and methods of Mass Customisation and Mass Personalisation concepts, as well as their combination with digital solutions, penetrate the analysed part of the non-life insurance market in the Baltic countries and result in a mutually useful outcome for insurance companies and end-users. The paper contributes to further theoretical investigation of digitalisation and digital transformation of the non-life insurance market in the Baltic countries, as well as the development of practical knowledge in combined management and IT solutions application.

Keywords:
mass customisation  mass personalisation  digitalisation  co-creation  Baltic insurance market 

This analysis aimed to investigate the factors influencing the behavioural intention to use Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in Thailand and Pakistan. The study was geared towards exploring the MOOCs, a relatively new technology platform allowing the spread of education and learning in various areas and fields and surpassing traditional online courses. The study adopted the UTAUT model with additional two variables of perceived autonomy and absorptive capacity. A quantitative method was applied using primary data collected from a sample of 490 and 513 respondents from Thailand and Pakistan, respectively. The sample size was composed of students in institutions of higher learning who were aware of MOOCs or intended to use them in their studies. The analysis was conducted using the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and multi-group structural equation modelling (SEM). The study found that four variables (social influence, absorptive capacity, facilitating conditions and perceived autonomy) significantly influence the student intention to use MOOCs in Thailand and Pakistan. However, two variables (performance expectancy and effort expectancy) did not influence the student intention to use MOOCs in Thailand and Pakistan. The results indicated that the findings between the two countries were invariant. This study extended the model by Venkatesh et al. (2003), including two additional variables, the perceived autonomy and absorptive capacity. The study indicated various aspects related to the response of students using MOOCs. This study is especially beneficial during the COVID-19 pandemic for determining factors that officials of higher institutions of learning should consider when implementing MOOCs and associated online learning programs to deliver quality education to students.

Keywords:
technology management  Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)  Multi-Group SEM  UTAUT  perceived autonomy  absorptive capacity 

The article aims to present the role of supplier evaluation criteria in reducing purchasing risk. Before a purchasing enterprise starts cooperating with suppliers, it set specific requirements and expectations. The fulfilment of these requirements and expectations is verified through the evaluation of suppliers. Evaluation results should indicate potential risks that may arise in the development of partnership cooperation. The article includes the results of empirical research conducted using the computerassisted telephone interviewing (CATI) technique in medium and large manufacturing companies operating in Poland. The results of the conducted empirical research indicate that companies wishing to partner with suppliers try to limit the level of risk associated with purchases. When evaluating suppliers, manufacturers focus mainly on reducing the risk associated with the defective technical quality of products, timely deliveries, delivery flexibility, time to restore continuity of deliveries, completeness of order fulfilment and delivery documentation, as well as price competitiveness. Also, in the evaluation of suppliers, companies operating in Poland are beginning to pay attention to the reduction of negative environmental impact.

Keywords:
supplier evaluation  risk in purchasing processes  organisational management standards 

The article considers several modern scientific papers substantiating the need for assessing workplace safety and focusing on methods applied for the quantitative assessment of working conditions. The analysis found unsolved problems in qualimetry, which could lead to the development of new practical and generally applicable methods to effectively assess working conditions. The analysis proved the relevance of the topic and helped to determine the aim of the article, i.e., the development of a methodology for the quantitative assessment of working conditions in industries, considering harmful production factors. An exponential distribution, which belongs to the theory of extreme statistics, was proposed for the transition of heterogeneous single indicators of harmful factors into a dimensionless scale. Affine transformations were used to combine dissimilar scales, making it possible to divide segments on dissimilar scales into equal proportions. The article proposes a step-by-step method for determining a complex indicator of working conditions in industries. The proposed methodology allows management decisions that minimise the deviation in actual values of harmful factors from the optimal ones. The developed technique was tested at one specific metallurgical production site.

Keywords:
methodology for assessment  multi-criteria assessment  workplace safety  qualimetry object  complex indicator quality  management system 

Modern cities face many challenges related to globalisation, metropolisation and digitalisation. The smart city concept, which has been gaining popularity in recent years, is considered an answer to their needs. One of the paradigms of modern smart cities is the Internet of Things. This article aims to identify the main research directions and trends in the scientific literature in the field of Internet-of-Things-based smart cities. The author of the paper conducted a bibliometric analysis of publications from 2012–2021, collected from the Web of Science, Scopus and IEEE Xplore databases. The methodology includes: (i) the selection of databases and key words, (ii) defining search criteria, (iii) data export, creation of an aggregate database and record selection, and (iv) the analysis of the results and identification of the major research trends. The study involved 1019 publications. The last stage of the research process identified the leading countries, institutions, journals, and authors in terms of publication activity, as well as the most frequently occurring terms. The key word analysis allowed identifying five main research directions: IoT application domains in smart cities, IoT architecture for smart cities, energy, security and privacy and data. Within each area, the main research themes have been identified, and selected publications have been reviewed.

Keywords:
smart city  Internet of Things  IoT  bibliometric analysis