Sigurdur Gudjonsson

The purpose of this study is to compare how much students learn using two different teaching methods under blinded experimental conditions. That is, comparing traditional lectures to active learning. We measure student learning by varying teaching methods during a review for an exam, which was taught either through a 40-minute traditional lecture or a 40-minute session of active learning. The results suggest no difference in learning outcomes between students who received review through active learning and those who received review through traditional means.

How effective is education as a signal for attracting future employers? With a sample of 143 human resource managers from Iceland's 300 largest companies, we conducted a framed field experiment to see if academic achievement and school choice influenced the job candidate's employability and salary. Candidates from public and private schools were seen as equally qualified and hirable, with public school candidates potentially getting offered a 9.8% higher salary.

Organizations are facing a serious challenge with employee burnout, which leads to a loss of productivity and employee morale. Despite its importance, there is still a knowledge gap in understanding one of the key features of employee burnout, namely, the personal characteristics of employees. This research aims to determine if grit can alleviate employee burnout in organizations. The study conducted a survey of employees in service companies, and results showed that employee grit was negatively associated with burnout. Moreover, the study revealed that grit does not equally affect all three dimensions of burnout, with emotional exhaustion and depersonalization being the most affected by employee grit. Increasing employee grit is therefore a promising strategy for companies that want to mitigate the risk of employee burnout.

Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues is a peer-reviewed journal which publishes original research papers and case studies

According to gender personality traits, women are more interested in people, whereas men are more interested in things. The goal of this research is to see if there is a gender gap in financial literacy and if these disparities can be explained by different areas of interest. A convenience sample of nearly a thousand responses was received in quantitative research. The findings clearly show that women have lower financial literacy than men, but there is no indication that this is due to men and women’s differing interests in people and things.

The world trade system appears to gravitate toward trade blocks. While the European Union (EU) is by far the largest trade block in Europe, the subject of this research is focused on another European block, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), with the member states of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. Unlike the EU, the EFTA countries can enter into Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) individually, with another country, whenever they choose. The world's largest increasing trading house over the last two decades is China, but it has not yet signed an FTA with the EU. However, China has a bilateral agreement with both Iceland and Switzerland. The methodology of this research involves using the STATA program for statistical regression estimation of simultaneous equation system since it estimates the interaction between the trade going between the countries. This allows for considering substitution or complementary effects between the goods flowing back and forth between the countries. The methodology is based on the means of the gravity model. This research aims to answer the following question: is it beneficial for small countries such as Iceland and Switzerland to have a bilateral agreement with China? This research focuses on estimating trade flows, in US dollars, between China and Iceland on the one hand and between China and Switzerland on the other. Results from regression analysis indicate that when accounting for the FTAs, import to Iceland from China positively affects exports from Iceland to China, but not the other way around. However, estimates for trade between Switzerland and China show the reverse of this to be true. When presenting and analyzing literature and economic studies in the field, selection data and presenting the threestage regression result, accounting for the Free Trade Agreements with China, our conclusion is the following: The trade relation of China with the two small European countries of Iceland and Switzerland has developed such that in 2014 the Free Trade Agreements between China and Iceland, and China and Switzerland came into effect. A combination of the three-stage least-squares regression, as well as the gravity model, allowing for accountancy of FTAs is applied. We conclude that when accounting for the FTAs over the short period from 2011 through 2018, import to Iceland from China has stimulated exports from Iceland to China, but not the other way around. However, the estimates for Switzerland are reverse to the estimates received for Iceland.

The purpose of the article is to investigate whether female presence in microfinance institutions’ management team, i.e. board members, managers and loan officers, will improve their financial performance. We combine financial data on MFIs that is available from the MIX Market database with original data on the gender composition of MFIs’ management team, who include board members, managers and loan officers. This original dataset of 223 MFIs is analyzed using Logit-Tobit regression models with return on assets (ROA) as the dependent variable and proportion of female board members, female loan officers and female managers as the main independent variables. We find that a higher proportion of female managers and female loan officers improve financial performance in microfinance, while a higher proportion of female board members does not. Our results indicate that a major contributor to the financial sustainability of microfinance institutions is having a higher rate of women in vital decision-making roles, especially lower level management positions.

This research focuses on female work ethics in Iceland, one of the most gender equal countries in the world. The Multidimensional Work Ethic Profile (MWEP) was used for measuring the work ethic of 238 students of both genders. Based on a...

In this study, we examine how students grade themselves in comparison with their peers and teachers. Results were formed from a sample of 169 first-year students signed up to the course “Introduction to Management”, run by the School of Business at the University of Iceland and based on a cooperative learning strategy. Irrespective of whether students were evaluating their individual or group work, the mean outcomes suggest that their own grading is much higher than that of their peers, and higher again than their teachers. These results suggest that the self-interest of the Homo economicus was clouding objectivity, and it is also likely that the inexperience of the new undergraduates in such grading approaches played a role. Future research should not abandon the idea of self-assessment as a means of developing critical capacities among students, but rather seek to explore whether these results are replicated in other educational settings, such as different disciplines and sub-disciplines, and whether more experienced students, such as third-year undergraduates, demonstrate similar behavioral responses.

This critical literature review begins by giving a short introduction to the microfinance industry. Microfinance institutions (MFIs) are explained and an account is given of their dual performance goals of financial performance (‘financial sustainability’) and social performance (‘outreach’). While MFIs’ social performance is directly aimed at poverty reduction, it is noteworthy that often they fail to address poverty (i.e., they fail to deliver outreach). The aim of the paper is to answer the following research question: Why have microfinance institutions (MFIs) failed to address poverty? In order to establish the reason, the first step is to look at how the MFIs are managed and controlled, i.e. to examine MFIs’ corporate governance literature. This critical literature review was conducted using systematic on-line searches in the databases Scopus and Web of Knowledge; the main key words used were microfinance, gender, corporate governance and performance. The unconvincing nature of the findings of a review of the corporate governance literature suggests that another factor should be taken into consideration: that of gender; after all, MFIs are mainly used by women. The findings from reviewing the microfinance literature suggests that microfinance gender literature may explain why MFIs have not adequately addressed poverty, but this literature consists of a few studies only and further studies are needed. The literature on gender in general is more substantial, however. Some account of it will be given in this literature review. The findings of this literature review should benefit policymakers on the one hand, who are in a position to advance gender equality, while on the other hand it should be of use to academics, who can research MFIs in relation to gender; further studies of gender in MFIs are encouraged.