Afam Ituma

An evaluation of students’ perceptions and engagement with e-learning components in a campus based university

This article explores the pattern of use of a typical e-learning system by students in a campus based university. Whilst numerous studies of e-learning have provided fascinating insights into its potential benefits, a common concern is that mainstream studies in this area have focused largely on staff experience with limited attention paid to students’ perceptions and engagement. This study goes some way in bridging this gap by exploring students’ perceptions and patterns of use of a typical e-learning system. The findings suggest that a large percentage of the students had very positive perceptions and the frequency of usage of the e-learning system was also very high, with the vast majority using it frequently to supplement the traditional face-to-face classroom method. These results were irrespective of gender, age and nationality. Some of the implications of the findings are discussed.

The Chameleon Career: An Exploratory Study of the Work Biography of Information Technology Workers in Nigeria

Purpose – This paper seeks to explore claims about the changing nature of careers by focusing on how information technology (IT) workers enact careers in the context of Nigeria. The theoretical framework guiding this research is that societal context (social structure and institutions) has an influence on the career patterns exhibited by individuals.Design/methodology/approach – This study adopted a qualitative research approach, which involved semi‐structured interviews with 30 IT workers.Findings – Analysis of the findings indicates that the career trajectory of these workers conforms in part with the traditional view of hierarchical and progressive careers and partly with recent models of the boundaryless career. In order to capture a more contextual understanding, and based on findings from this research which highlight both the dynamic and the reactive nature of the careers of IT workers in Nigeria, the concept of the chameleon career isi ntroduced.Originality/value – This research contributes the Ni...

Four ‘domains’ of career success: how managers in Nigeria evaluate career outcomes

Using an exploratory qualitative approach based on in-depth interviews with 38 junior and middle managers, and informed by institutional theory, this article explores how Nigerian managers conceptualise career success. Results indicate that in contrast to some Western-based research, managers prioritise ‘objective’ (e.g. achieving financial stability) over ‘subjective’ (e.g. achieving work–life balance) career outcomes. Results also indicate that the well-applied dichotomy between objective and subjective measures is insufficient to capture the complexities and nuances observed in the Nigeria context. We thus propose four ‘domains’ of career success to include personal and relational dimensions in addition to the subjective/objective criteria. This we argue is a more comprehensive, integrative and contextually sensitive ‘frame’ for the analysis of career outcomes. Our findings suggest that scholars and multinational companies interested in expanding their operations to emerging economies need to incorporate these factors into their conceptualisations and management practices.

The internal career: an explorative study of the career anchors of information technology workers in Nigeria

The interest of career scholars in exploring individual careers has not been matched by equivalent attention on the influence of national context on careers. This paper describes the findings of a qualitative study, which explored the career anchors of information technology workers in a relatively neglected area in the literature-Nigeria. The result of this study suggest that IT workers in Nigeria exhibit six different career anchors namely being stable, being marketable, being in-charge, being free, being balanced and being challenged. The key conclusion is that beyond the individual career interest, individual career actions and decision are shaped and constrained by the wider societal factors embedded in the context in which careers are enacted.

Transformation and Feminisation: The Masculinity of the MBA and the ‘Un-development’ of Men

Purpose – This paper sets out to explore the gendered nature of the MBA and the benefits men and women gain from the course. In so doing it aims to highlight a relationship between the masculinity of the MBA and the “un‐development” of men.Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on secondary data and critiques the masculinity of the MBA pedagogy.Findings – Examining outcomes from the MBA, evidence suggests that while men may achieve greater progress in terms of career development and pay, it is women who are more likely to undergo “transformational” change.Originality/value – Drawing on work from critical management education (CME) and on models of learning, this paper argues for the need to “feminise” the MBA, where feminisation is used in a critical context to include a challenge to rather than rejection of dominant discourses. This goes some way to address the charge that, while CME has highlighted some of the programmes moral and political foundations, it has failed to recognise the gendered im...

The mediating role of perceived employability in the relationship between core self-evaluations and job search behaviour

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating role of perceived employability in the relationship between core self-evaluations (CSEs) and job search behaviour (preparatory and active job search). Design/methodology/approach – A cross-sectional survey data were obtained among a sample of 254 employed and unemployed graduate students from a university in Southeast Nigeria. Findings – Results of the hierarchical multiple regression show that CSEs was significantly and positively associated with only preparatory job search behaviour but not active job search behaviour. CSEs was positively associated with perceived employability. Perceived employability was positively associated with the preparatory job search but not active job search. Perceived employability also mediated the relationship between CSEs and preparatory job search but failed to mediate the relationship between CSEs and active job search. Research limitations/implications – The study makes important contribution to the literat...

Antecedents and outcomes of personal mastery: cross-country evidence in Higher Education

This paper contributes to our understanding of personal mastery by providing fresh insights from a cross-national study in Higher Education (HE). It presents findings from a rich sample of informants in two well-established universities in the UK and Vietnam, and develops a framework that illustrates the antecedents and outcomes of personal mastery in the two cultures. The multi-level analysis performed provides valuable insights that extend our current understanding of personal mastery beyond the individual level as it is traditionally theorized. Instead, we are able to show that a number of contextual conditions at the organizational, industry and the national culture that may also have a bearing on the way personal mastery is cultivated. By contributing a richer account of the multifaceted nature of personal mastery, the paper draws attention to a range of implications for both future research and practice. In particular, it invites practitioners in HE to apply the theories they develop in practice.

Working Hours and Work–Family Conflict in the Institutional Context of Nigeria

The overall objective of this chapter is to contribute a Nigerian perspective to the wider discourse on work–family interface and extend current conceptualizations of issues in this area. We explore and analyze: (i) how much time Lagosians spend for working and commuting; (ii) in the case of those who spend much longer hours at work than those specified in their work contract, the reasons for doing so; (iii) the kind of work–life or work–family conflict Lagosians experience and its impact on their well-being; and, (iv) the impact of excessively long work hours on employees’ stress and turnover intentions, both of which are bound to have an impact on productivity and employee costs. Our findings provide valuable empirical data to help decision making on public policy and are useful to those with practical responsibility for the management of people in organizations in Nigeria.

Africa: a fertile but “uncharted” territory for career studies

Purpose - This paper aims to stimulate scholarly interest in career dynamics in the African continent and to highlight a useful analytical framework for studying career dynamics within the continent. It is a step towards countering the hegemony of the Anglo-Saxon conception of careers. Design/methodology/approach - The approach taken is a literature review that introduces the topic and provides some background and discussion of the key analytical frameworks in cross-national studies. Findings - A review of the extant literature on careers revealed a dearth of knowledge on career dynamics in Africa. The paper contributes to the literature by providing a concise discussion of the two most dominant theoretical approaches (the culturalist and the institutionalist) which are often invoked in studying career dynamics within and across national contexts. Research limitations/implications - The effect of national culture on career dynamics should not be overstated. There is a need for career scholars to move beyond cultural explanations of career dynamics and embrace a more institutionalist approach in the study of career dynamics in the African context. Originality/value - Career studies from an African perspective is currently underdeveloped. This paper represents the first major attempt to stimulate scholarly interest in this area. It generates insights that are expected to aid the development of more research on career dynamics in Africa, a relatively neglected, though important, empirical site.

Gender, feminization and the MBA: a review of the contribution of Ruth Simpson

Purpose Ruth Simpson is a leading scholar in management education. This paper aims to provide a succinct summary of her voluminous work on management education, with a particular focus on her work on the relevance and benefit of the Master in Business Administration (MBA) degree, which is generally considered the flagship of business and management education. Design/methodology/approach The approach taken is a review that introduces the central themes underpinning the work of Ruth Simpson on the MBA. Findings The paper elevates the understanding of the skills development and related outcomes from the MBA. Research limitations/implications The works reviewed have implications on how to align the MBA curriculum to meet contemporary business requirements in a fast-changing world. Originality/value This paper highlights the key findings of Ruth Simpson’s research on the MBA and her scholarly contribution in this area. The paper also generates insights that are anticipated to stimulate management educators to further extend the field and carry it forward in the coming years.