International Journal for Quality Research

12

Authors: Ghadah Alardani

In Saudi Arabia, both traditional and modern sports are popular. The facilities required for them are based on the population of the area and the level of participation. There are a few world-class sportspersons in Saudi Arabia and they have won in some competitions. The Saudi sports activities are administered and controlled by the General Presidency of Youth Welfare (GPYW) established in 1974. There are also active programmes to develop sports in educational institutions. Against the above background, the following question assumes relevance: What are the various issues, factors, and challenges of sports management in Saudi Arabia, and how they can be addressed? This review tries to answer this research question through a systematic review. There are obstacles and challenges also. The main obstacle related to the Islamic cultural and social restrictions, especially not permitting women to participate in sports and physical activities. Positive attitudes of male and female university students are affected by the lack of facilities, opportunities, and programmes. Effective interventions by adequate security mechanisms and agencies, backed by appropriate regulations need to be ensured to reduce riots in the stadia. Injuries are a major problem in sports, sometimes incapacitating them lifelong. The effect of the covid pandemic on sports had been serious as it affected the schedules of major sports events all over the world. Some were cancelled and others like the Tokyo Olympics 2020 were postponed. When such sports events are conducted, the risks involved need to be attended to for reducing the impact of covid on the sportspersons, audience, and others. Some modern trends in sports research include flipped classrooms based on neural networks as a method of modernising sports education, the use of exergames to improve the physical activities of hearing-impaired students, and the use of UAV-enabled Internet of Things to track and work on the player safety. Overall, it is safe to say that sports management is at a nascent stage in Saudi Arabia. Addressing the challenges faced in sports management in Saudi Arabia can improve the sporting outcomes for the country.

12

Authors: Konstantin V. Vodenko1 Alexandra V. Latsveeva

In this article, we consistently analyze some aspects of higher education related to each other by the desire to determine the availability of online learning resources (with the potential to ensure the quality of higher education). This issue is actualized by the transfer of a certain part of the higher education process to the online form. All that causes some concerns that the new form of higher education will not allow maintaining the quality of higher education. The theoretical framework of this article is based on the methodology of the neo-institutional approach. The empirical baseline is based on the mass sociological survey conducted among High School students. The results of this study showed that the online learning form lacks the necessary resources to maintain the quality of higher education at the expected high level. The conclusion is partially consistent with the established discourse on the quality of higher education since a considerable part of researchers is convinced that online learning has a great potential for the development of higher education at the proper teaching level.

12

Authors: Nikola Stakic, Nikola Stefanovic

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only transformed our daily lives but has also acted as a catalyst for the rapid evolution of the FinTech industry. This sector has gained substantial recognition from global investors who are eager to allocate their surplus funds to this domain. This paper aims to examine the FinTech industry from a financial market perspective, specifically focusing on investments in thematic FinTech exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Our analysis centres on two prominent ETFs, namely FINX and ARKF, and compares their performance against the Standard & Poor's 500 stock market index. Notably, the results demonstrate the outperformance of this industry niche, even in the face of strong overall market performance during the pandemic years. Employing a factor regression approach, we implement the Carhart 4-factor model for both ETFs over the period from March 2019 to December 2021. The findings suggest resemblances between the FinTech industry and the overall market in terms of factor-investing styles and momentum-driven behaviour of market participants. However, significant disparities in performance metrics are observed between the respective ETFs.

14

Authors: Oleksandr Radchenko, Oleksandr Nepomnyashchyy, Oleksandra Marusheva, Roman Prav, Viacheslav Shandryk

In the course of the research, positive and negative effects of public investment management in the construction sector of low-income countries have been revealed. The negative effects of public investment management are connected with an insufficient level of public policy effectiveness and institutional capacity. In general, the lack of significant progress in all indicators of the efficiency of public governance for the period 1996?2020 was noted in low-income countries. The specified determinants of public governance have a negative impact on the ability to effectively manage investment in the process of implementing state projects in the field of construction with the involvement of international organizations in developed countries. The analysis of the efficiency components of the management of investment projects under the leadership of the public sector reveals gaps in the supervision, quality of monitoring and evaluation during the implementation of projects. Such gaps are caused by factors characteristic of low-income countries, namely: 1) little or no progress in implementing the investment budget; 2) management difficulties related to the low level of productivity of public sector personnel, shortage of personnel and the need for their training; 3) cumbersome administrative government procedures; 4) lack of planning of project maintenance processes, management training planning; 5) insufficient attention to the processes of project planning and monitoring; 6) the lack of institutional capacity for ensuring the efficiency of project implementation.

16

Authors: Vesna Rašković Depalov, Katarina Pavlović

Raising the level of knowledge is essential for start-ups pursuing growth and aiming at keeping their innovation potential high. Since innovation activity has been the driving force of economies worldwide, governments tend to focus on providing knowledge through various support programs in order to accelerate innovations. The aim of the study presented in this paper was to find out what types of knowledge and what factors contribute positively to this process. For this purpose, methodology used was based on interviews and questionnaire. 82 participants were selected for the study. Four hypotheses were tested and proven. One, related to the needed team knowledge, and three, related to digitalisation level, intellectual property rights protection, and gender influencing time-to-profit. The results of the study obtained are presented and discussed in the paper and these findings may be used as a guidance for further support to the Serbian innovation ecosystem.

16

Authors: Anastasia A. Sozinova

The goal of this paper is to develop a marketing approach during the reorganisation of a university under the impact of competition and the inflow of transnational capital and to test it on the example of Russia's national research universities. For this research, the top 10 universities of Russia are selected. They are included in THE World University Rankings 2021 (they performed the reorganization and are national research universities). T.L. Saaty's hierarchy process, regression analysis, and correlation analysis are used. The approbation of the given recommendations on the example of national research universities of Russia in 2021 shows that the level of favourability of the impact of competition and the inflow of transnational capital on marketing management of quality during the reorganisation is moderate or low. Recommendations for its increase are offered. A marketing approach to quality management during the reorganisation of a university under the impact of competition and the inflow of transnational capital is developed. The approach includes, first, methodological recommendations to evaluate the level of favourability of the impact of competition and the inflow of transnational capital on marketing management of quality during the reorganisation of universities. Second, landmarks of the improvement of marketing results of the increase of quality of Russian universities during the reorganisation based on managing the factors of competition and the inflow of transnational capital.

18

Authors: Ketrina Mijo Çabiri, Ermira Qosja

This paper is built upon the work packages of the Enhancing and Validating Service Related Competencies in Versatile Learning Environments in Western Balkan Universities (e-VIVA), a project undertaken under the auspices of the Erasmus+ Capacity Building in Higher Education. The methodology employed in this paper is based on the e-VIVA project's work packages, mainly those dealing with the research and needs analysis, service related competencies learning approach, validation, desk research, interviews, online questionnaires, focus groups of universities for each Western Balkan country involved in the project during the meeting of November 2021 in Kotor, Montenegro. The findings of the project help to assess the current situation of the Western Balkan universities about the enhancing and validating competencies, as well as to make some recommendations to the relevant ministries of education, business partners and to the universities themselves.

18

Authors: Turan Tolgay Kizilelma, Ozkan Tutuncu, Ipek Aydin

The purpose of this paper is to determine the functional relationships among information security, patient safety climate, and quality management dimensions within a healthcare system. A cross-sectional, observational study was conducted among the healthcare staff of a state university training and research hospital. The safety climate scale and quality and information security management (QISM) scale were used to collect data from a sample of 389 participants. Canonical correlation analysis was conducted to evaluate the relationship between QISM and safety climate. Organizational safety and departmental safety were the strong contributors to safety climate while quality management, information security, and general requirements, contributed to the QISM. Examining the signs of the cross loadings indicated that all the independent and dependent variables positively correlated with safety climate, and QISM. The results indicated a significant and robust positive relationship between QISM and safety climate. Making improvements in quality and information security may provide positive results on improving patient safety climate. Along the same lines, promoting a patient safety climate may also improve healthcare quality and information security.

20

Authors: Wallner Martin, Peráček Tomáš

Data has become the most critical asset that companies have. Companies often lack the experience to generate the highest possible value from their data. Most current studies on this topic were not restricted to the participants' geographical location or industrial sector. The originality of this research is that a survey is sent to industrial companies in Austria solely. This article intends to answer the following research question: 'What is the current state regarding data management in Austrian industrial companies? It should start a discussion in the community if Austrian and European companies are behind their international competitors in company-wide data management. It should also give an overview of standardized KPIs, responsibilities, problems, data storage technology, and decision-making. While most industrial companies in Austria stated that their KPIs are standardized within the company and strategic decisions are based on data, Austrian companies lack behind their international competitors in terms of C-level positions for data management and a company-wide data management strategy.

22

Authors: Mona Mirtsch

Against the backdrop of numerous security breaches and cyber-attacks, organizations need to take measures to secure their data and information. However, the well-known management system standard ISO/IEC 27001 for information security has shown a lower adoption rate - in terms of annual ISO survey data - than was previously expected by scholars and practitioners. Through the lens of Rogers' diffusion of innovation theory, we consider the adoption of ISO/IEC 27001 as a 'preventive innovation' and aim to identify factors that help gain a better understanding of its adoption. Therefore, we conducted a survey among German organizations on the use and impact of management system standards, explicitly distinguishing between organizations that implement ISO/IEC 27001 and those that are additionally certified against this standard. This study provides insights and contributes to an advanced understanding of motives, impacts, barriers, and useful measures to increase adoption of ISO/IEC 27001. Our findings may be useful to organizations considering the adoption of this management system standard, to certification bodies providing certification services, and to policymakers seeking means to improve information security in organizations.