Research
RESEARCH FIELD: Sustainable business and management
UdM Researchers working on this field:
- Dr. Peeroo
- Ms Jackaria
- Mr Hurrymun
- Mrs Bheekharry
- Dr. Betchoo
Funded projects
Project 1
Title:
Talent Relationship Management and Social media in the Mauritian Employment context.
Duration (start/end):
3 years (2018-2021)
Principal Investigator:
Dr Swaleha Peeroo, Université des Mascareignes
Collaborating partner:
University of Mauritius – Investigator: Dr Priya Gunesh
Awarding body or sponsor:
Tertiary Education Commission (Award No: INT – 2018 – 05)
Description of projects:
The small island development state of Mauritius has its human capital as its main resource (Tandrayen and Kasseah 2017). The recent Small Island Developing States SIDS meeting held in Mauritius in June 2015 came to the conclusion that in fact SIDS are actually going through a period of high cost of living on top of being adversely affected by excessive brain drain (World health organisation, background document, SIDS meeting, 2015).“Mauritius, being a small island state having only its human capital as main resource, has to make judicious use of this resource to achieve its fundamental development and employment goals and objectives” (National employment policy for Mauritius 2014, p13). Accordingly, an attempt is being made by this study on social media and Talent relationship Management to attain the national employment objective of maximising the use of the Mauritian human assets.
Research pertaining to talent management is scant in the Republic of Mauritius with the exception of (Maheshwari et al., 2017; Betchoo, 2014, 2017). Amidst the war for talent (Michaels et al., 2001), the use of social media for talent relationship management currently appears to be a necessity for Mauritian organisations for the country to be able to position itself as a global employer of choice. The major contribution of this study will be to provide Mauritian organisations with a well structured strategy for the purpose of maintaining a long-term trust based relationship with current and potential talents having as vehicle social media platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook.
Project 2
Title:
An analysis of social media use by businesses in Mauritius in the retail sector
Duration (start/end):
3 years (2018-2021)
Principal Investigator:
Dr Swaleha Peeroo, Université des Mascareignes
Collaborating partner:
Awarding body or sponsor:
Tertiary Education Commission
Description of projects:
The advent of social media is revolutionising marketing practices.. Social media have empowered customers by providing a platform where they can express their views and opinions. Though customers have more opportunities than before to express their views and concerns, it is still unclear to what extent companies actually listen to what customers are saying to them. Social media give customers what traditional media such as TV never could – a chance to be engaged and engage others. Because of this, social media are of particular interest to businesses.
Research has been carried out to study the social media phenomenon as a marketing tool mostly in the USA and in Europe. However, scant research has been done on social media in Mauritius and studies conducted in the Mauritian context did not have a marketing focus.
With globalization and the abundance of information on the Internet, customers no longer have to rely on local businesses to buy products and services. In this digital era, customers have a wider choice since they can order products and services on ecommerce sites worldwide. Therefore it is crucial for businesses to harness new technology to counter the increasing competitive pressure. Social media are one of the technological tools marketers can use to engage with their customers. This study aims to identify the challenges and opportunities of social media within a Mauritian context and will also make recommendations to managers about effective social media marketing practices. This might enable companies to reengineer their social media strategies to derive more meaningful conversations, gaining higher levels of customer engagement and ultimately increasing sales and customer loyalty.
Project 3
Title:
Sustainable employment in smart cities. Assessing job sustainability in smart cities in Mauritius
Duration (start/end):
March-December 2020
Principal Investigator:
Dr Nirmal Kumar Betchoo
Collaborating partner:
Awarding body or sponsor:
Description of projects:
The context of the research lies in the sustainability of jobs in smart cities. The ‘smart city’ concept emerged from the creation of a cyber city in Ebène in Mauritius and has been a driver in the development of information and communication technologies. At the same time, the cyber city has absorbed around 10,000 jobs since its creation and enabled people to be employed in remunerative jobs. Based from the success of the cyber city, the smart city concept has emerged where around eight projects are being considered. From this standpoint, smart cities should help in creating new jobs that should be viable and durable in the future.
Specific Objective(s)
- To assess the future work environment in smart cities
- To evaluate fundamental differences between existing jobs and prospected new jobs
- To assess how such employment will be sustainable in line with the emerging business environment
- To learn about challenges linked with new jobs anticipated in terms of skills needed, education level and experience
- To predict job sustainability in Mauritian smart cities through human resource planning and strategic human resource development
Any further inquiries?
Please contact on the following email: ecoledoctorale@udm.ac.mu