Impacts of Culture on Organizational Learning in Cambodia

Congratulations to Dr Makararavy Ty, who was recently awarded her PhD at Shinawatra University for her thesis entitled ‘Impacts of Culture on Organizational Learning in Cambodia.’

 Abstract:

In an intensely competitive world, each organization is supposed to find the most efficient and effective organizational strategy to cope with change. This pressure also forces organizations to act ever more quickly. To enhance their capability to respond to change, organizations should seek to identify what are their core competencies and the competitive advantages which are their keys to success. At first inspection, people might consider the knowledge and skills embodied in the organizational workforce because they are the most precious assets. The term “organizational learning” has become a term of interest to most academics and practitioners. Simultaneously, organizations have to consider the cultural context in environments in which they act. This study explored the impacts of culture (both national and organizational culture) on the organizational learning in Cambodia. The survey questionnaire, constructed on the basis of a solid literature review, was distributed to more than 2000 employees working in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. 417 responses were obtained with reliability value of 0.895 calculated by Cronbrach’s Alpha, which is above the acceptable value of 0.70 (Zikmund, 2000) and analyzed by utilizing Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). The questions related to culture and organizational learning were factor analyzed using principal component analysis followed by Varimax rotation before utilizing regression tools to test the relationship between independent and dependent variables. Generally, the results showed that culture had strong relationships with learning capabilities of organizations in Cambodia. Simultaneously, some subhypotheses were rejected and it is not surprising because the author created the questions based on literature reviews and logical thinking. The study concluded by following some recommendations for Cambodian organizations to take into considerations in order to strengthen their levels of performance.

Keywords:  Cambodia, Culture, Impacts, Organizational Learning

A Study of Language Roles in Thai Tourism Industry Competitiveness

 

Congratulations to Dr Thavorn Thitthongkam, who was recently awarded his PhD here at Shinawatra University for a thesis entitled: “A Study of Language Roles in Thai Tourism Industry Competitiveness.”

Abstract:

This study aimed to study the language roles in Thai tourism industry competitiveness, to determine the most important language role for the Thai tourism industry, and to investigate how Thai tourism product suppliers and marketers establish and maintain competitiveness to help keep Thailand a preferred tourist destination for international tourists in terms of the use of language roles. A qualitative method was adopted for this study. Purposely, this study utilised in-depth webcam interviewing techniques with a 42-group-case of international tourists chosen purely on the basis of convenience, in-depth face-to-face interviewing with a 30-group-case of inbound tour company managers selected on a random basis technique, and in-depth face-to-face interviews with a 32-group-case of tourism department heads, who were identified using a snowball technique were employed. Three sets of interview guidelines in English were created as a research tool by the researcher. The data were analysed using a combination of hermeneutical analysis, content analysis, and discourse analysis. The results of the study revealed that language plays diverse roles in Thai tourism industry competitiveness. The most important language role in Thai tourism industry competitiveness is for communication. Effective communication leads to better understanding among tourism people and the international tourists and motivates repurchase by international tourists. Establishing competitiveness to help Thailand remain a preferred tourist destination for international tourists is a key role for language. Language can be used for many purposes. It is adjusted according to different visions. Well-designed curricula for tourism education should be created. Based on the research findings, the need for diversity training in foreign languages and their roles should be focused on and the implications considered in depth. The need for greater collaboration and partnership between tourism organisations and tourism education institutions in preparing the workforce to meet the needs of the tourism industry is evident. This includes developing tourism education curricula on a continuous basis.

Keywords:       language, tourism, language roles, Thai tourism industry, competitiveness 

 

AAMJ: Managing the Industrial Estate (call for papers)

The call for papers on Managing the Asian Industrial Estate is now live at the website of the Asian Academy of Management Journal. More details are here. I mention of this because I am the guest editor for this issue.

Do, please, let me know if you have any interest in submitting a paper.

Marketing Research: Qualitative or Quantitative?

There are many types of marketing research, including questionnaire surveys, observation, data mining and so forth. In order to try to make sense of the different types and then decide which one to use, the first step is to divide all types of research into two categories, which are quantitative and qualitative. Each has distinctive characteristics and purposes.

Read the full article here.