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The purpose of this paper is to demystify the role of the personal resource of psychological capital (PsyCap) in the job demands-resources model. The theory suggests that personal resources directly influence perceptions of job demands, job resources, and outcomes. Alternatively, personal resources may moderate the impact of job demands and job resources on outcomes.

A survey of 401 nurses working in the Australian healthcare sector explores the relations among PsyCap, job demands and resources, and psychological well-being and work engagement.

The results suggest that PsyCap directly influences perceptions of job demands and resources and that it directly influences the outcomes of well-being and engagement. Furthermore, job demands and job resources mediate the relation of PsyCap with well-being and engagement, respectively.

The moderation effect of PsyCap was not supported, which suggests that PsyCap relates to perceptions as opposed to being a coping mechanism. This finding therefore narrows the scope of personal resources in this important model.

The importance of this study lies in its exploration of various ways that personal resources can influence this dominant model and in analyzing the global construct of PsyCap as opposed to some of its constituent parts.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the paradox inherent in the term “Creative Industry Management”. The challenges of applying creative industry experiences within a managerial context are explored through a careful selection of papers that identify linkages between creative industry practice and management theories.

The paper is a narrative commentary using the Jurassic Park franchise to highlight the potential application of management theory to explain the success or failure of a creative venture. The analogy of filmmaking and the creation of blockbuster movie sequels is useful in determining the tensions between creative production and management of a profitable franchise.

This paper identifies opportunities for theory building at the meso level in the management domain, born of the experiences of those in the creative industries. The papers presented add to the continuing discovery of ways of applying management theory in the creative industries. However, there remain opportunities for a cross-pollination of theory from the creative industry to management domains.

It is not possible to claim more than observation and exploratory inference from the selection of papers presented. The special issue has only uncovered one half of the theoretical perspective, namely management theory that can be applied in the creative industries.

The approach taken to liken the challenge of managing creativity to the production of creative works in moviemaking is novel and highlights the dearth of creative industry experiences that currently influence management theory.

The purpose of this article is to examine the shifting roles of Bhutanese women in employment and family as they navigate tensions between tradition and modernity.

To achieve greater understanding of the experiences of the women in this research, a theoretical framework dubbed a “matrix of entanglements” is developed and tested through the analysis of qualitative interview data from 38 Bhutanese working women. In doing so the ways in which these women reconcile competing demands on their personal resources are assessed.

It is found that the women are experiencing entanglements as they negotiate western endogenous modernity, an emerging “Bhutanese modernity”, and traditional social, cultural, economic and political patterns.

While this research is limited to a single nation, it demonstrates the potential usefulness of applying a “matrix of entanglements” as an analytical tool. In conducting the analysis, questions are raised about genuine development as opposed to new globalized circumstances that seem to serve the purposes of powerful economic and political groups inside and outside Bhutan rather than broader society.

The analysis has illuminated the extent to which the Bhutanese “mid‐way” economic/cultural policy goals may be compromized by global influences beyond the control of state actors.

This paper presents a new way of conceptualizing the problems confronted by working women in developing nations as they try to reconcile the competing demands of tradition and modernity.

The review of contemporary organisational change theories identified one theory which seemed relevant to explaining the organisational change phenomenon in public enterprises – Van de Ven and Poole’s (1995) Evolutionary Change Theory (ECT). However, further review of the management literature revealed its limitations in explaining change, particularly in public enterprises. The theory fails to identify the triggers of change and the roles of various stakeholders, and the purpose of this paper is to enhance model of the ECT and appraise it.

Researchers continue to highlight the need to examine context when examining a change process; therefore, the authors utilised a process research approach to examine changes in the New Zealand electricity industry over the past four decades. As the approach is a flexible one, it allowed exploration of the critical features of change.

Analysis revealed compelling evidence of two new proposed stages to the ECT which operated in conjunction with external environmental influences that acted as stimuli for change.

The research provided insight into the various influences on organisational change, particularly public enterprises. It confirms the previously ignored power of the external environment and the role of stakeholders in influencing organisational change.

The research advances current understanding of organisational change as it offers an enhanced model of the ECT by identifying the trigger for organisational change in public enterprises. Furthermore, it finds different stakeholder groups with the ability to influence the organisational change process.

The purpose of this paper is to use the theoretical insights provided by reflexive modernisation in examining the effects of globalisation on the development policies and trajectories of India.

After a presentation of the main ideas and concepts of reflexive modernisation and globalisation, the principal characteristics of the reflexive modernisation of India are identified and discussed.

This paper demonstrates that the development path taken by India is characterised by ambiguity, contradiction, and paradox. There is much doubt, uncertainty, and debate in academic, political, and social forums about whether India is on the right development path, as the nation attempts to graft western‐style capitalist structures and technologies on to traditional ways of life. Indeed, in its drive towards economic development and enhanced social well‐being India is at the same time compromising that development and wellbeing through the production of risks.

There are two main limitations of this paper. The first relates to reflexive modernisation. It is a much discussed and controversial theory that requires further enhancement, particularly with regard to developing nations. The second relates specifically to India in that it is difficult to make generalisations about such a diverse nation.

In spite of its limitations, reflexive modernisation offers a sound theoretical foundation for alternative perspectives and policy approaches to development. As developing nations such as India engage with global economic, cultural, and political structures and institutions, they are at the same time transforming and being transformed by the influences that these structures and institutions exert.

This paper aims to present the case of the Pilbara as an illustration of how neo‐liberalism and globalisation affect a natural resource region.

A primary data set was collected by interviewing 21 people who had an interest in the development of the Pilbara. Secondary data was collected from relevant government policy documents and media reports relating to the region. Qualitative analysis techniques were used to analyse the data.

It is found that neo‐liberal policy has had a profound and largely negative effect on Pilbara communities. Rather than reaping the benefits of the wealth being generated in the region, participants in this research experience social breakdown and unmet social needs, and the local democratic institutions are weak and ineffective. Research limitations/implications – This paper reports on a single case and is limited in terms of its generalisability. However, it does illustrate the value of the “Resource Curse Thesis” and the concept of “risk” in illuminating the issues associated with neo‐liberalism.

This research has practical implications in that it provides an example of the problems associated with neo‐liberal perspectives when they are used as a framework for developing and implementing regional policy.

The resource curse thesis tends to be used in analysing developing nations and risk has so far been applied in limited areas of researching the effects of neo‐liberal policy trajectories. This paper employs these concepts to provide a critical examination of regional development policy in a way that can be used in other national contexts.

The purpose of this paper is to report on the results of research focusing on the relationship between aesthetics and spirituality in the Australian services sector.

The research employs an interpretive mixed‐method approach. The data were collected using an online survey developed from a range of existing research tools. The population of interest is employees in the Australian services sector. The results were analysed using quantitative and qualitative data analysis techniques.

The results of the analysis suggest that people who work in the Australian services sector tend to consider themselves “spiritual”, but it is a spirituality that is not necessarily religious, it might more likely be derived from aesthetics.

The main limitation of this study is the small sample size, which limits the inferences that can be drawn. Despite this limitation, this study has important implications in that it illuminates and attempts to resolve some of the conceptual confusion and contradictions in the existing literature relating to aesthetics and spirituality. It is proposed that aesthetics be equated with an expressed spirituality that has no connection with religiosity and spirituality be equated with expressed religious beliefs.

This paper presents an investigation of the relatively neglected area of spirituality and aesthetics in the context of the Australian business environment and stimulates the debate about spirituality and aesthetics in the workplace.

This paper aims to explore the re‐interpretation and justification of caste in India in the face of modernising influences and the efforts of legislators to disassemble its structures and traditions.

The concepts of de‐traditionalisation and governmentality are deployed to illuminate the reconstruction of caste within the framework and imperatives of global industrial capitalism.

Caste now has a different source of justification in that it serves the functions and needs of the “winners” of globalisation at the expense of the “losers”. In traditional caste‐based society each caste moved in separate social spheres. This is simply not possible in a modern capitalist state based on a web of social, economic, and political inter‐dependencies. This has the potential to cause social dislocation, threatening India's economic and social well‐being and development. This paper demonstrates that whilst caste is still prevalent in Indian society it can no longer appeal to tradition for legitimacy.

Resource distribution and the creation of an inclusive environment is a critical policy issue. The challenge for social policy in India is tackling the entrenched inequality of the caste system in its emerging, contemporary form. Equal opportunities will remain imaginary, unless India takes adequate steps towards capacity building in disadvantaged social groups.

De‐traditionalisation and governmentality have so far only been applied to developed or Western nations. This paper uses these concepts to provide a critical account of an important social issue in developing nations.

The purpose of this paper is to present the Pilbara as an illustrative case study of some of the tension that arises out of a largely unmediated engagement of regional communities with neo‐liberal globalisation and to demonstrate the usefulness of Harvey's general matrix of spatialities as an analytical framework for examining such phenomena.

In deploying Harvey's matrix, attention is focused on one key intersection where tensions between differing perspectives and representations of regional development in the Pilbara are best conceptualised. These tensions are examined using qualitative data collected from 21 semi‐structured in‐depth interviews and policy documents from state and federal governments.

The analysis indicates that there are various and sometimes conflicting values and perceptions about the effects of occupying one of the “spaces of global capitalism”. This is most evident in that while the extensive natural resources located in the region generate considerable wealth, the Pilbara communities are not necessarily reaping the full benefits of this wealth.

This research is limited in that it is a single case study. However, it does illustrate the limiting effects on regional development of narrowly focussed economic approaches fostered by neo‐liberal policy perspectives that has applicability in other contexts.

In applying Harvey's matrix, the “space” occupied by the Pilbara is analysed in way that opens the various influences, contradictions and pressures to critical examination, providing opportunities for the development of alternative futures.