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1 – 10 of 425Sam R. Thangiah, Michael Karavias, Ryan Caldwell, Matthew Wherry, Jessica Seibert, Abdullah Wahbeh, Zachariah Miller and Alexander Gessinger
Purpose: This chapter describes the design and implementation, at the computer hardware and software level, of the Greggg robot. Greggg is a scalable high performance, low cost…
Abstract
Purpose: This chapter describes the design and implementation, at the computer hardware and software level, of the Greggg robot. Greggg is a scalable high performance, low cost hospitality robot constructed from off-the-shelf parts. Greggg has a robust architecture and acts as a tour guide on-campus, both indoors or outdoors. This research allows one to build a customized robot at a low cost, under U.S. $2,000, for accomplishing the desired hospitality tasks, and scale, and expand the capability of the robot as required.
Practical Implications: The practical implication of the research is the capability to build and program a robot for hospitality tasks. Greggg is a customizable robot capable of giving on-campus tours both indoors and outdoors. In its current architecture, Greggg can be trained to be a museum docent and give directions to visitors on-campus or at an airport and scaled up for other hospitality tasks using off-the-shelf components. Enhancing the robot by scaling it up and expanding it, in addition to testing it with a range of increasingly more difficult tasks using machine learning algorithms, is highly beneficial to advancing research on the use of robots in the hospitality sector. Greggg can also be used for Robot-as-a-service (Rass) applications.
Societal Implications: The economic implication of Greggg is the ease and low cost with which one, with minimal technology know-how, can construct an autonomous hospitality industry robot. This chapter details the hardware and software needed to build a low cost scalable and customizable autonomous robot for the hospitality industry without having to pay an exorbitant price.
Research/Limitations/Implications: This research allows one to build their own customized hospitality robot under U.S. $2,000. Given the cost of building the robot, it has limitations on the hospitality tasks it can perform. It can navigate on flat surfaces, has limited vision and speech processing capabilities and has a battery life not exceeding an hour. Furthermore, it does not have any robotic manipulators or tactile processing capabilities.
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Virginia Barba-Sánchez, Yolanda Salinero, Pedro Jiménez Estévez and Pablo Ruiz-Palomino
The high and persistent unemployment rates of people with intellectual disabilities (PwID) reveal the wide gap that still remains to be bridged. Entrepreneurship combinedly with a…
Abstract
Purpose
The high and persistent unemployment rates of people with intellectual disabilities (PwID) reveal the wide gap that still remains to be bridged. Entrepreneurship combinedly with a high enterprising tendency could improve PwID's life satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed-method approach was used, based on questionnaires and structured face-to-face interviews on 37 PwID who had recently become entrepreneurs. Data were firstly quantitatively analyzed using partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM), and qualitative data were used to enable robust findings.
Findings
The entrepreneurial tendency of PwID who had recently become entrepreneurs was found to be a positive to their life quality (LQ), job satisfaction and life satisfaction.
Research limitations/implications
This study revealed that entrepreneurship among PwID who had high enterprising tendency enhances their LQ, job satisfaction and life satisfaction. However, further research could evaluate whether becoming an entrepreneur is in itself enough to change PwID's life to better, such that a comparison could be done between PwID who become entrepreneurs and PwID who have a salaried job.
Practical implications
New aspects in the design of public social policies to improve PwID's life satisfaction are suggested. These include the facilitation of both entrepreneurship and enterprising tendency for PwID to enhance their life satisfaction.
Originality/value
There are very few occasions in which PwID set up businesses. This is one of the first studies to analyze the benefit of entrepreneurship and enterprising tendency on the LQ, the satisfaction at work and the life satisfaction of PwID.
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Sjanett de Geus, Greg Richards and Vera Toepoel
The purpose of this paper is to clarify the relationship between subjective experience of an event, motivational style for participating and satisfaction afterwards. It proposes…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to clarify the relationship between subjective experience of an event, motivational style for participating and satisfaction afterwards. It proposes that subjective experience of positive affect acts as a mediator between motivation and satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper opted for a quantitative survey among 285 respondents asking about their motivation to participate in celebrating Queen's Day, a Dutch national event around the birthday of the Queen Mother. Their satisfaction levels and subjective experience of the event were collected after the event. The (mediation) hypotheses were tested through a series of regression analyses.
Findings
The paper provides empirical insights about how subjective experience mediates the effect between motivational style and satisfaction.
Originality/value
This paper fulfils an identified need to study the effects of subjective experience in events.
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Brent Smith and Sereikhuoch Eng
Extant research suggests that consumers value the pursuit, attainment and retention of income security and financial well-being (FWB). The authors aim to expand the relevant…
Abstract
Purpose
Extant research suggests that consumers value the pursuit, attainment and retention of income security and financial well-being (FWB). The authors aim to expand the relevant literature by examining how consumers' psychosocial characteristics affect and are affected by the pursuit of those objectives.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors utilize partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to evaluate the authors' hypotheses based on a sample of USA and Canadian consumers (n = 619).
Findings
The authors' PLS-SEM results provide support for the authors' hypotheses, indicating that individuals' insecure attachments – anxious and avoidant – relate negatively to their income security and FWB. The authors' results also show that these two desirable states relate positively to individuals' undesirable state of social loneliness.
Research limitations/implications
The authors' methodology and findings illuminate the positioning of psychosocial factors as antecedents to and outcomes of income security and FWB. This research also provides a basis for understanding the linear vs curvilinear influences of income security on an individual’s social life.
Originality/value
In the present empirical study, the authors present a rare empirical examination of individuals' income security and FWB as outcomes of their psychosocial profile vis-à-vis insecure attachments. Drawing on established psychometric scales, this study expands the consumer psychology and FWB literature, showing significant linkages between insecure attachments, income security, FWB and social loneliness.
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Ann Marie Ryan and Mark J. Schmit
Person—environment (P—E) fit has long been a focus in organizational research. A climate‐based measure of P—E Fit was developed for use in organizational and individual…
Abstract
Person—environment (P—E) fit has long been a focus in organizational research. A climate‐based measure of P—E Fit was developed for use in organizational and individual assessment. A series of studies with a Q‐sort measure of climate and fit (the Organizational Fit Instrument—OFI) indicated ways in which P—E fit information can be used in organizational development. In addition, the psychometric properties of the OFI assessed in these studies suggested that, despite the ipsative nature of the measure, it may provide the organizational development practitioner or researcher with a sound and useful tool. Suggestions for future research are proposed.
Vafa Asgarova and Kwok Kuen Tsang
It has been suggested that social impacts on young people are stronger in collectivistic societies than in individualistic societies due to stronger social norms. Therefore, the…
Abstract
Purpose
It has been suggested that social impacts on young people are stronger in collectivistic societies than in individualistic societies due to stronger social norms. Therefore, the satisfaction of psychological needs might be more challenging for students in collectivistic societies. As Azerbaijani society is collectivistic, the purpose of this study was to explore the ways in which the need for the self-determination of Azerbaijani master's students is met in relation to their social circles.
Design/methodology/approach
Forty-four Azerbaijani master's students were interviewed for this study, and their answers were analyzed from the perspective of basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness within self-determination theory (SDT).
Findings
The findings of the current study suggest that Azerbaijani students' social environment is not supportive of furthering higher education through achieving a master's degree, and in some cases, this negatively affects students' well-being. Families in Azerbaijan mainly view higher education as being employment focused due to experiences of employment insecurity in the country.
Research limitations/implications
The participants of the current study were from middle- and low-income families in Azerbaijan, as the interviewer obtained basic information on the educational and occupational situations of participants' families in addition to the interviewees' own states. Perhaps due to financial needs, it was mainly found that families valued making money over long-term self-development aspirations in their children. Reaching larger numbers of participants, future studies may purposefully sample individuals from higher-income families to reveal whether families with fewer financial concerns were more autonomy-supportive in the aspirations by young people to further their education or how the pattern of their support varied due to socioeconomic status.
Practical implications
It is hoped that the presented results may guide the relevant authorities in the regulation of the employment strategies of youth in Azerbaijan, as high levels of youth unemployment and massive shifts to self-employment and low-skilled occupations create few opportunities to realize self-development aspirations in Azerbaijan. More efficient policies should be implemented to improve recruitment to good-quality jobs and increase the value of skills and knowledge in employment.
Social implications
Interconnected cultural factors determine families' views of furthering education and affect how they satisfy the psychological needs of students in their education lives. It is anticipated that the present study will be useful for students mainly from developing countries in coping with their social environments in pursuing their self-development aspirations.
Originality/value
Unlike previous studies, the authors suggest that through “gained autonomy”, Azerbaijani youth who comply with their elders when less experienced tend to gain control over their personal decisions by providing positive information about overseas experiences. The concept of “gained autonomy” also contributes to SDT in illustrating how members of collectivistic societies can attempt to satisfy their basic psychological needs.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine early sociological research on the experience of non-impaired siblings in families of children with disabilities for evidence of an…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine early sociological research on the experience of non-impaired siblings in families of children with disabilities for evidence of an approach consistent with aspects of the social model of disability.
Methodology/approach
Due to the historical nature of this special issue, this work examines research published over a 30-year period beginning with the 1960s and ending with the late 1980s. After an extensive literature search, a mixture of 51 quantitative and qualitative studies on the sibling experience was included in the sample.
Findings
Findings indicate that while the focus of much of the early research on the non-impaired sibling experience was on the negative impact of having a sibling with impairments, there were some exceptions in early sociological studies that highlighted the impact of structural barriers and cultural attitudes on sibling adjustment. In particular, results of early studies showed that the transmission of inclusionary attitudes within the family unit can improve the lives of siblings.
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