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Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine individuals' levels of work ethic amongst current and recent university attendees across three countries. This article presents the results of a survey of 537 respondents from the United States of America, Korea and China, thus extending the previous research into work ethic, often conducted from a Western perspective. The comparative study aims to enhance the understanding of cross-cultural and gender differences and similarities whilst probing for the levels of work ethic amongst the respondents. Design/methodology/approach: A comparative research method was adopted because the authors' aim was to probe similarities and differences across three societies. Multiple analysis of variance (ANOVA) and t-tests were utilised to explore gender and country-related differences. Cluster analysis was applied to probe for segments highly similar to each other in the levels of work ethic of the respondents. Findings: The results confirm the hypothesised differences between countries as well as across gender groups, with American females having the highest levels of work ethic, closely followed by Chinese males and females. Three distinct segments -- low, medium and high levels of work ethic -- were found in all three countries, indicating that there are individuals in each of the societies who could benefit from strategies for increasing the individuals' levels of work ethic. Originality/value: Novel gender comparisons of the three country groups revealed American females as having the highest levels of work ethic and Korean females the lowest, whilst the identification of clusters of low, medium and high levels of work ethic provides evidence of the need to increase levels of work ethic to enhance productivity, regardless of the country of origin.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic review of studies on antecedents of the corporate reputation of higher education institutions (HEIs) from the perspectives of employees. Design/methodology/approach: The approach is an examination of previous literature on antecedents of corporate reputation in HEIs, published between 2010 and 2020. Findings: The findings show that general and specific factors of corporate reputation in HEIs are being employed as strategic tools to survive the competitive nature of the higher education landscape. Originality/value: Factors of corporate reputation in HEIs from the perspectives of employees are an understudied area with little academic literature available.

Purpose: As universities and colleges face an increasingly global environment, internationalization is viewed as a critical aspect of education, a fact that has significant academic and economic implications for higher educational institutions worldwide which need to be current with cultural education to adapt to change. Learning from other cultures is essential and valuable for students to connect with other cultures even as they enrich their own lives. Practical processes for developing successful cross-cultural education programs merit serious attention from higher educational institutions. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/Methodology/Approach: The case study explored in this paper demonstrates a practical application of internationalization of music education by examining the experience and outcomes from a cross-cultural program jointly developed by a US and a Korean university. The success of the case study under review hinged on three critical factors for developing a cross-cultural program between international academic partners: organizational commitment, teamwork, and pedagogical content. Findings: The findings support the assertion that the three key factors introduced in the framework can be applied to develop a cross-cultural program between international academic partners. Originality/Value: This study proposes a practical framework for developing cross-cultural education programs among higher educational institutions.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study the possibilities and potential barriers on the path of internationalization of the educational services market through development of the system of remote education. Design/methodology/approach: In order to determine the influence of development of the system of remote education on the process of internationalization of the educational services market, the authors use the method of regression analysis. A regression curve is built, containing the model of paired linear regression and the value of determination coefficient. The research object is the market of higher educational services -- as it is subject to internationalization and distribution of remote education. The research is performed based on the 2017 data by the example of countries from various regions of the world that show different rates and levels of socio-economic development but that achieved the largest success in development of the system of remote education -- the USA, the UK, Brazil, China, South Korea, Italy, Germany, India, Malaysia, Australia, South Africa and Russia. Due to the absence of the official international statistics on the issue of internationalization of the educational services market, the proprietary method is used for determining its level. Findings: It is concluded that remote education has a slight influence on the process of internationalization of the educational services market in the countries of the world, though it has large potential in the sphere of stimulation of internationalization of the educational services market, as it allows providing educational services of equal quality and equal cost for domestic and foreign students. Originality/value: The developed and presented model of managing the development of the remote education system of a modern university in the interests of stimulating internationalization of the educational services market allows overcoming these barriers and opening the existing potential of remote education in the sphere of stimulation of internationalization of the educational services market.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to build on the foundational theories of personality and motivation to explore the role of competitiveness and of ethnicity in relation to student academic performance. Survey data from 328 students across four sites (Australia, Denmark, Hong Kong and Korea) provided self-rated responses to items measuring personality, motivation, competitiveness and ethnicity. Design/methodology/approach: Stepwise multiple regression was used to identify the variables that predicated student academic performance, including testing for interaction effect of ethnicity. Both student self-reported data and independently assessed performance measures were used to avoid common method variance. Findings: This study affirmed that both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are significantly associated with academic performance. The personality traits of conscientiousness, agreeableness, extraversion and neuroticism are significantly associated with a student's competitiveness. The interaction of competitiveness and ethnicity is significantly and positively associated with performance. Research limitations/implications: The variable of student competitiveness requires further research to better understand its role in academic performance. Researching ethnicity at the micro level allows the acknowledgement and investigation of "intra-national diversity" (Tung, 2008; Tung and Baumann, 2009). Originality/value: This study is original in its approach in that it combines the concepts of motivation, personality, competitiveness and ethnicity in relation to student academic performance. While previous studies have explored these concepts individually and often at the macro level, a crucial contribution of this study is that competitiveness and ethnicity (as opposed to national culture) are examined at a micro level. The authors demonstrate the combined importance of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (carrot and stick) in driving performance and introduce the new motivation, competitiveness and performance model which recognises that competitiveness, as a driver of performance, is moderated by the learners' ethnicity.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to combine seemingly unrelated factors to explain global competitiveness. The study argues that school discipline and education investment affect competitiveness with the association being mediated by educational performance. Crucially, diachronic effects of discipline on performance are tested to demonstrate effects over time. Design/Methodology/Approach: Partial least square (PLS) modelling is used to analyse the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data. The study further draws from World Bank data on Government Expenditure and World Economic Forum data on competitiveness. Five PISA dimensions of school discipline (students listening well, noise levels, teacher waiting time, students working well, class start time) are hypothesised to affect academic performance in reading, math and science, and to ultimately impact competitiveness. Findings: Findings confirm the relative importance of school discipline (88 per cent) in comparison to education investment (12 per cent) on educational performance, with both variables also being found to be significantly associated with competitiveness directly. Originality/Value: This study demonstrates the time effects of discipline, more specifically that discipline dimensions (students listen well in 2003 and students work well in 2009) are associated with competitiveness in 2012. Implications for school policy and further research are discussed.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine what factors affect student achievement in reading and mathematics. The research questions addressed the perceptions of school principals and background characteristics related to student achievement in Korea and the USA with respect to differences among students in low, middle and high quantiles. Design/methodology/approach: Data were taken from the Program for International Student Assessment 2012. Scores in the reading and mathematics were analyzed in conjunction with a principal survey. The Quantile Regression method was used for data analysis with three quantile points. T-statistics were used to test for significance. The predictor set consisted of seven school-leadership variables, and four to six additional covariates. Findings: The most important finding for the USA was a relationship between organizational hindrance (HND) and low student achievement for the middle and upper quantiles in mathematics and for all quantiles in reading. The (HND) variable included poor teacher-student relations, low expectation of students, overly strict enforcement of rules, lack of attention to student needs, resistance to change, lateness to class, and lack of preparation. The most important finding for Korea was that there were significant associations across all groups between teacher attitude (TCHATT) and student reading achievement and with the low group in mathematics. Research limitations/implications: This study adds to knowledge about school capacity and suggests that the leadership role of the principal is to overcome negative environmental factors and create a positive organization. Originality/value: The non-Gaussian approach of regression analysis allowed us to identify significant differences that we otherwise might not have found.