Research Picks Extra – February 2017

Students buy counterfeit software
A survey of students in India suggests that many buy counterfeit, or pirated, computer software, do not consider their purchases unethical despite being well aware of the option to buy legitimate versions. Fundamentally, “the results suggests that factors like value consciousness, lesser knowledge of copyright laws and novelty seeking behaviour of users are key determinants for purchasing pirated software,” the team reports. Ultimately, this attitude could have a detrimental effect on company profits for the originators of such software and worse still affect their brand in a negative way of pirated software is over lower quality than the legitimate product. The team suggests that educating students early about how they are breaking the law in using pirated software will be important in reducing this form of product abuse.
Rishi, B. and Mehra, A.K. (2017) ‘Key determinants for purchasing pirated software among students‘, Int. J. Technology Marketing, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp.4-22.

On the internet nobody knows you’re a dog
There is a common perception that even shy and introverted individuals are as active as their extrovert counterparts on social media. However, a study from India that investigates personality type with social media use suggests a more obvious correlation that extroverts spend more time spent on social media, share more information and activity publicly. In contrast those with so-called neuroticism show a negative correlation relationship with overall social media use. “A significant difference is found between the time spent on social media and frequency of use of social media on mobile phone for different personality categories,” the team says. There are useful implications for human resource managers in recruitment and training inasmuch as a candidate’s personality type might be betrayed by considering their social media use and this might then inform more effective decision making with better long-term outcomes for a given job.
Jain, A., Gera, N. and Ilavarasan, P.V. (2016) ‘Whether social media use differs across different personality types? Insights for managing human resources‘, Int. J. Work Organisation and Emotion, Vol. 7, No. 3, pp.241-256.

Work-life balance
Researchers in India hoped to discover whether or not emotional intelligence contributes to personal contentment. As such, they have explored the association between work-life balance and job satisfaction. Their survey of 180 workers in healthcare organisations suggests that work-life balance and job satisfaction are positively correlated as one might expect. Moreover, this is mediated by emotional intelligence. “The results of the study offer possibility to develop intervention plans which includes wisdom and emotional intelligence as the principal component to increase the overall job satisfaction of employed professionals,” the team concludes.
Pradhan, R.K., Pattnaik, R. and Jena, L.K. (2016) ‘Does emotional intelligence contribute to contentment? Exploring the association between work-life balance and job satisfaction‘, Int. J. Work Organisation and Emotion, Vol. 7, No. 3, pp.180-197.

Taking back control with a fuzzy cuckoo
Search optimisation inspired by nature is an important aspect of non-linear control systems. As such, a team in India has now turned to the parasitic bird, the cuckoo, which lays its eggs in the nests of other avian species. The chicks then out-compete the natural chicks of those birds, taking all their nest space and food and thriving to become the next generation to the detriment of the natural offspring, which usually die before reaching adulthood. The way in which cuckoos search for appropriate nests is embedded in a novel algorithm that can quickly seek out solutions to a problem. The team has validated their approach with an experimental setup of a food industry process using a conical tank to determine optimal liquid discharge rate for a given set of parameters.
Kumar, P., Nema, S. and Padhy, P.K. (2017) ‘Fuzzy-cuckoo controller for nonlinear system‘, Int. J. Systems, Control and Communications, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp.41-56.