The concept of work–life balance has recently established itself as a key component on route maps drawn up in the pursuit of social sustainability, both on a local scale, represented by individual organizations, and on a more general one, represented by global institutions such as the United Nations. Our article analyzes telework’s use as a political tool within organizations that either boost or hinder the development of social sustainability. Additionally, we propose the notion of “life sustainability” to analyze how female teleworkers describe the link between specific work cultures and the possibility of fulfilling social sustainability goals in local work environments through the achievement of a good work–life balance. Our research was performed following a qualitative approach, drawing from a sample of 24 individual interviews and 10 focus groups with a total of 48 participants, all of which are female teleworkers with family responsibilities. Our main findings allow us to summarize the interviewees’ social perceptions into two categories, which we have dubbed ‘life sustainability ecologies’ and ‘presence-based ecologies’. We conclude by discussing female teleworkers’ claim that work–life balance is directly linked to social sustainability and that the latter goal will remain out of reach as long as the issue of balance goes unresolved.

This paper examines the influence that student perceived quality of service (PSQ) has on continuance intention and willingness to recommend a course in a fully online university. A holistic view of the service provided by the university is taken. It is not only the effect of the teaching which is examined, but also that of the administrative services, the additional services, and the virtual learning environment (user interface). Through a survey completed by 1,870 students and the subsequent analysis using structural equations, we found that each of these services has a significant impact on the students' PSQ, their level of satisfaction, and, as a result, their loyalty and willingness to recommend the university. The study found that the perceived quality of the administrative services can have a comparatively higher impact on student satisfaction than the other services. PSQ is shown to have also a direct impact on student loyalty and recommendations. Moreover, as a whole, non-teaching services have a greater impact on loyalty and willingness to recommend than teaching service.The peculiarities of the process of providing educational services in a virtual environment (such as the absence of face-to-face interaction between student and teacher and the lack of conventional tangible elements which act as benchmarks for quality of service) are well-known. The relationship established in the literature between the constructs of service quality, satisfaction, loyalty, and willingness to recommend the service in an offline environment can also be seen in this context.The interconnection of factors proves to be more complex and interrelated than has been accounted for as yet in the scholarly literature. The findings of the survey are relevant to system concerns related to quality management and sustainability, both of which are increasingly important in today’s competitive educational postsecondary environment.

The digitalization and globalization of society and the corresponding impact on the rules of the labor market is shifting the education sector toward new pedagogical approaches that integrate wholly online methodologies. Sustainable Development Goal 4 advocates for inclusive and equitable quality education that promotes lifelong learning opportunities, and, as we have seen during the COVID-19 lockdown, online learning can play a key role. In a context where lifelong learning becomes crucial to maintaining graduates’ employability, the innovative teaching methodologies that promote employable competencies in online environments are especially desirable. With the purpose of improving the employability of students, this article analyses the impact of introducing the Authentic Learning Scenarios (ALS) paradigm in an online environment. We develop a quasi-experimental design. Based on the nine ALS criteria and their application to e-learning, we redesign a course in a business degree program. Data from 135 students were collected, with special focus on achieving general competences. We compare the perception of the competency profile attained between a group of students who took the course before incorporating the ALS paradigm and another group that took it once it had been redesigned. Results show that redesigning the course enables students to perceive the learning process as more authentic, as well as acquiring a more advanced competence profile. Besides this, it has been shown that technology can contribute to building cognitive authenticity in virtual classrooms, without the need for face-to-face internships, which are often not a feasible option for students of online programs.

Dimensions of Perceived Service Quality in Higher Education Virtual Learning Environments

Purpose: Functionality of feedback in pedagogical processes has been broadly analyzed in face-to-face learning, although to a lesser extent than in the on-line learning. Narciss (2004, 2008) distinguishes two dimensions within the feedback, the semantic dimension and the structural dimension. This article aims to analyze, from the student’s perspective, the semantic dimension of feedback in a virtual learning environment (VLE). Firstly, we analyze the importance that VLE students give to feedback and its degree of personalization. Later, the usefulness that students deem feedback should have, paying special attention to each of its semantic subdimensions (Narciss, 2004). Design/methodology/approach: A survey was conducted among students of Business Administration degree of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC). 182 students took part, separated into two groups (pilot and control). Findings: It has been proved that 90% of students give a great or very great importance to reception of feedback from their tutors, a relevance they consider to be higher than the one within a face-to-face environment. This percentage is around 75% with regard to the importance given to the level of personalization of feedback. The development of a factor analysis has revealed that usefulness of personalized feedback perceived by the students can be subsumed under two large dimensions: the one that facilitates learning (related to its semantic dimension) and the motivational one (by allowing an easier and more fluid communication with the tutor, contributing not to leave the course, etc.) The latter dimension has been also proved to be key in order to attain improvements in the students’ satisfaction with the learning process. This research was funded by the Catalan government and the UOC, within the framework of projects to Improve Teaching Quality (ITQ). Originality/value: Implementing personalized feedback has a relevant impact on the student, who values it because it makes his learning process easier, richer and more significant. Moreover, it has a clear motivational effect over the student, which had not been sufficiently evidenced by other researches. Such effect needs not to be underestimated, particularly within an on-line environment, where dropout rate is usually high.