Browsing by Author "Sheena"

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An Empirical Study of the Brand Building of Engineering Institutions in Karnataka: A Strategic Framework
(National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal, 2018) Kamath B, Ushaprabha; Sheena
In recent decades, the liberalisation of technical education in India and the persistent demand for engineering degrees have resulted in the rapid growth of private engineering colleges in the country. In the state of Karnataka, the state’s global identity is closely associated with its technical education, and it has become the focal point for a number of private engineering institutions that grapple with limited resources in a highly competitive environment. Developing a sustainable brand, therefore, becomes extremely necessary for these institutions to achieve competitive advantage. This study takes an empirical approach to develop a brand building strategy for private engineering colleges in Karnataka. A thorough review of literature and focus group interviews provided the basis to build the research questions and the research objectives, and identify independent variables like the 7 P’s of services marketing mix (product, price, place, people, promotion, process, physical evidence) in addition to institutional performance, and dependent variables like student enrolment, student satisfaction, and student loyalty. Stratified random sampling was used to collect quantitative data in the form of a structured survey from students and the managements of 29 private engineering colleges, and the data was statistically analysed. Additionally, structured interviews with parents, employers, media persons, and academicians were conducted, and the qualitative data obtained was analysed to enhance the soundness of the research. A gap was identified between the factors affecting students’ enrolment decision and the managements’ efforts in creating brand awareness. The factors responsible for student satisfaction and loyalty were also identified and a positive correlation was demonstrated between the two, with experience being a mediating factor. Qualitative analysis of the interviews showed the respondents’ perceptions regarding brand performance and institutional performance, importance of branding, and how these are relevant in a competitive arena. This study has successfully led to the development of an empirical brand building model that can be strategically implemented by engineering colleges and extended to other fields of higher education.
Examining the Role of Workplace Spirituality and Teacher Self-efficacy on Organizational Citizenship Behaviour of Secondary School Teachers: An Indian Scenario
(2019) Mahipalan, M.; Sheena; Muhammed, S.
Research on workplace spirituality is on the rise primarily because of the win-win situation it creates for both employees and organizations. Spirituality at work has been associated with many individual-level work behaviour and attitudes. Also, self-efficacy is another significant construct which considerably affects individual work experiences. The current study focuses on the relationship between workplace spirituality, self-efficacy and organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) in secondary school teachers. It examines whether spirituality and teacher efficacy could predict citizenship behaviour of teachers. Additionally, the influence of spirituality on self-efficacy is also looked at. Data were collected from 353 teachers working in state-run schools in one of the southern states in India. Using structural equation modeling, the study finds that positive relationships exist between different dimensions of workplace spirituality, teacher efficacy and two categories of OCBs. The study contributes to the growing empirical research on workplace spirituality and the underexplored area of teacher OCB. 2019 Management Development Institute.
Examining User Adoption of Augmented Reality Technology - An Empirical Study
(National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal., 2024) Anand, Komal; Sheena
The development of technology and the internet has pushed the growth of the E Commerce sector. This growth has urged utilizing technology to offer better products and services. With the rapid growth in online shopping, e-commerce platforms face high product returns and cart abandonment, which increase cost and waste of resources due to a lack of experience with the product before placing the order. Further, to meet the technological advancements and offer a better shopping experience, companies can utilize technologies such as AR (Augmented Reality). AR uses visual technology, which provides a virtual product experience within the users' surroundings, offering an enhanced shopping experience. AR is a novel technology, and there is a dearth of studies in developing countries such as India. Hence, it is essential to understand the customer's perspective towards using AR in online shopping platforms. This thesis examines the factors influencing users' behavioral intention towards AR in online shopping platforms. Further, the study has also investigated the mediating role of performance expectancy, effort expectancy and trust between the factors and user behavioral intention. The study has adopted the UTAUT 3 theory, extending it with variables, namely privacy risk, trust, and quality factors. The study is quantitative. Data was collected from Tier 1 cities in South India and analysed using SPSS and AMOS. The descriptive statistics, reliability, and validity tests were computed using IBSS SPSS software 25, whereas the SEM technique was computed using IBM SPSS AMOS 23 software. The proposed research model was verified through the measurement model, and the structural model has reported a good model fit. The research used 1,029 respondents for the empirical analysis. The statistical analysis of the research data revealed that performance expectancy, Trust, social influence, hedonic motivation, personal innovativeness, and information quality are the significant factors influencing user intention. Trust emerged as the most critical factor, and hedonic motivation emerged as a highly influential factor in UTAUT. Meanwhile, effort expectancy, facilitating conditions, system quality, and privacy risk were found to be insignificant predictors. The study has also examined the presence of performance expectancy, effort expectancy and trust as mediators. Except for effort expectancy, the study found the mediating role of performance expectancy and trust among the factors. Research on user adoption of AR technology in online shopping apps is nascent. Hence, the present study has attempted to contribute to the literature area with empirical results. Furthermore, the research has offered valuable theoretical and practical implications for the benefit of academia and policymakers.
Impact of Workplace Spirituality on Work Outcomes: The Mediating Role of Employee Engagement
(National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal, 2019) Mahipalan, Manju; Sheena
Recent decades have witnessed a rising interest in the phenomenon of workplace spirituality. The focus is gradually shifting from contemplative enquiries to empirical studies where researchers attempt to capture and analyse the concept of spirituality at work. The current study is in this direction where the primary objective is to test the claims on the benefits of workplace spirituality in an Indian non-profit context. Spirituality is considered to be an integral element of service oriented professions and the present study attempts to validate this assumption in an educational work setting. The present research attempts to analyse the impact of workplace spirituality on organisational commitment, teaching satisfaction, job involvement, and organisational citizenship behaviour among secondary school teachers of government educational institutions in the southern region of India. Additionally, employee engagement, which is another construct of recent origin, is introduced as a mediator between the workplace spirituality-outcome relationships. The conceptual model proposed indicated positive relationships between workplace spirituality and all the work outcomes with job and organisational engagement as mediators. A total of 853 secondary school teachers from state-run schools were surveyed for the research. PLS based SEM was adopted for testing the structural model. The results were generally supportive for proposed model. Workplace spirituality was found to be positively related to both forms of employee engagement. In the mediated model, mediation of job engagement was stronger for commitment, satisfaction and involvement, mediation of organisational engagement was stronger for citizenship behaviour. The one way through which workplace spirituality benefits are manifested in the organisations is through the enhancement of the engagement levels of people, which in turn is reflected in their attitudes and behaviour. The study holds important implications for the institutions functioning in the social sector. State-run schools are considered as the backbone of the educational system in the region. These are institutions at the grass root level and could exert long-term influence on the progression of the society. Hence, it is vital that the individuals associated with these institutions are able to replenish their selves, and become more dynamic, creative, and optimistic thus creating a new learning experience for the students.
Orchids in the wild: An investigation into entrepreneurial education effectiveness and empowerment among women's shgs
(2017) Sheena; Naresh G.
The issues of women, empowerment, entrepreneurship and education have been a topic of discussion in various international forums, thus making it significant in the present-day scenario. The study was conducted in the SHGs located near tourist areas of Kerala by exploring the role of women entrepreneurship in tourism industry and taking the women SHGs functioning under Kudumbashree project in selected districts of Kerala, the role of SHGs in tourism entrepreneurship education and to find out the effectiveness it has on the various levels of empowerment of women. Random sampling technique was employed to select SHGs, and survey was conducted for data collection. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to measure the impact of the variables on the outcome and the findings of the study show that the education/training imparted to the SHG members has empowered them to a great extent and among the four levels of empowerment, viz. Psychological, economic, social and political empowerment, the two latter variables positively influence entrepreneurial skills. This implies a positive transition of women from a conventional society to individuals who can take up demanding challenges. © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017. All rights are reserved.