The Malaysian government’s heightened focus on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) reflects a strategic move towards economic and social development, particularly in addressing youth unemployment. Recognizing the potential of TVET to contribute to these goals, there is a specific emphasis on enhancing the marketability of women in the workforce from the current 62 percent to an ambitious 95 percent. However, a notable gender gap persists in entrepreneurial pursuits within the TVET sector in Malaysia, with female representation lagging. To bridge this gap, this study aims to construct a comprehensive framework that nurtures future-ready female TVETpreneur talent. This initiative aligns with the Malaysian Higher Education Blueprint, 2021–2025, i.e., fostering a diverse and innovative workforce. An extensive literature survey was conducted to identify the factors influencing female TVET students’ entrepreneurial intention. The literature revealed that social psychological and organizational approaches are commonly used to explore and analyze the relationship between the influence of female TVET students’ talents and behavior, their exposure to entrepreneurship, mentorship and support programs, role models in TVET, curriculum design, and access to resources. A comprehensive theoretical framework was developed based on these findings, which offers significant insights related to enhancing TVET opportunities for women and advancing Malaysia’s economic and social development goals in a sustainable way.
Interest in the impact of environmental innovations on firms’ financial performance has surged over the past two decades, but studies show inconsistent results. This paper addresses these divergences by analyzing 74 studies from 1996 to 2022, encompassing 4,390,754 firm-year observations. We developed a probability-based meta-analysis approach to synthesize existing knowledge and found a generally positive impact of environmental innovations on financial performance, with a probability range of 0.85 to 0.97. Manufacturing firms benefit more from environmental innovations than firms in other industries, and survey-based studies report a more favorable relationship than those using secondary data. This study contributes to existing knowledge by providing a comprehensive aggregation of data, supporting the resource-based view (RBV) and the Porter hypothesis. The findings suggest significant policy implications, highlighting the need for tailored incentives and information-sharing mechanisms, and underscore the importance of diverse data sources in research to ensure robust results.
In the present and future of education, fostering complex thinking, especially in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), is critical to lifelong learning. This study aimed to analyze learning scenarios within the framework of a model that promotes complex thinking and integrated design analysis, to identify the contributions of linking design models to the SDGs. The research question was: How does the open educational model of complex thinking link to the SDGs and scenario design? The analysis examined a pedagogical approach that introduced 33 participants to the instructional design of real-life or simulated situations to develop complex thinking skills. The categories of analysis were the model components, the SDGs, and scenario designs. The findings considered (a) innovative design capacity linked to SDG challenges, (b) linking theory and practice to foster complex thinking, and (c) the critical supporting tools for scenario design. The study intends to be of value to academic, social, and business communities interested in mobilizing complex thinking to support lifelong learning.
This study explores the advancement of ethical practices and environmental sustainability in Thai banking through an in-depth case analysis of Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), the country’s first indigenous bank founded in 1907. SCB has significantly influenced ethical banking practices and sustainability initiatives. The research provides a unique comparative analysis of SCB’s ethical frameworks and sustainability policies, assessing their impact on key stakeholders, including customers, employees, the community, and the environment. Employing a qualitative case study methodology, this study utilizes secondary data from SCB’s reports and CSR documents, analyzed through thematic analysis and descriptive statistics. The findings reveal SCB’s substantial progress in aligning ethical considerations with environmental sustainability, contributing new insights into ethical decision-making processes and the balance between profit and responsibility. Recommendations are provided to enhance ethical and sustainable practices in banking, adding to the discourse on corporate responsibility, environmental stewardship, and sustainable development.
Purpose: Kindergartens are an important educational environment for the development of children at an early age, and they also play a crucial role in developing the values of sustainable development. The purpose of this study is to investigate kindergarten teachers’ perceptions of observable and sustainable development practices. Design, methodology, approach: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 302 Saudi kindergarten teachers. Additionally, observation cards were utilized to collect data on actual practices of sustainable development in kindergartens. Data were analyzed using Nvivo12, a qualitative data analysis software, and descriptive analysis methods. The main themes were produced first, and then the perspectives were organized around them. Finding: The impact of social and cultural factors on the development of values, the lack of resources available to implement educational activities, and teacher awareness and training gaps were found to be the main barriers to the development of sustainable development values in kindergartens. Originality, value: To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study in Saudi Arabia that has looked into the environmental and social perceptions of early childhood teachers about sustainable development practices, so the study’s findings can highlight the importance of reorienting teacher education programs toward sustainability in order to bridge knowledge and practice gaps.
This paper provides a disaster resilience-based approach. For the definition of the approach, a three-step method (definition of components, analysis of the resilience pillars and definitions of resilience-based actions) has been followed. To validate the approach, an application scenario for mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic is provided in the paper. The proposed approach contributes to stimulating the co-responsibility quadruple helix of actors in the implementation of actions for disaster management. Moreover, the approach is adaptable and flexible, as it can be used to manage different kinds of disasters, adjusting or changing itself to meet specific needs.
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