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In spite of facilitating and motivating factors in the external environment, the implementation of new management‐accounting techniques as activity‐based costing (ABC) in companies is disappointing. The aim of the study is to determine factors that catalyse, facilitate and motivate the decision to implement ABC in Jordanian industrial companies. Additional objectives include determining the problems associated with ABC implementation and assessing the degree of success of ABC implementation in Jordan.

A sample of the Jordanian industrial companies was selected and a questionnaire survey was employed using a five‐point Likert scale to collect data from the financial managers, descriptive and analytical statistics were used to analyze the collected data.

The findings indicate that the most important factor that facilitates the decision to implement ABC was the provision of adequate training and the most influential factors which motivate the process of ABC implementation include an increasing proportion of overhead costs, and an increasing number of product variants. Consequently, this study found that the interaction of three types of factors (catalysts, facilitators and motivators) create the potential for change in these companies. Barriers to change could make the change process slower, hindering, and even preventing change; and barriers to change were identified that may explain the differing implementation rates of ABC in the Jordanian industrial sector. The greatest barrier to implementing ABC was found to be its high cost of implementation, followed by the high cost of ABC consultancy and computer staff time.

The study adds new elements to the institutional approach, and integrates it with concepts from psychology and organizational culture, to create a better understanding of management accounting. The results of study contribute to existing knowledge in the area of understanding the factors which act as catalysts, facilitate, and motivate ABC innovation and of those factors that create barriers to ABC implementation in Jordan.

This paper seeks to focus on the diffusion of activity‐based costing (ABC) in Jordan. A conceptual framework from general diffusion theory is adopted to describe the diffusion process within the Jordanian industrial sector. The main objective of the study is to determine the motivations for the implementation or non‐implementation of ABC.

Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with financial managers and heads of costing departments of companies within the Jordanian industrial sector. Both face‐to‐face and telephone interviews were used to achieve the research objective.

It was found that the rate of implementation of ABC in the Jordanian industrial sector follows the classical S‐shape. It is also suggested that the supply side of the diffusion process, most notably the role played by consultants, was an influence on many companies. This was not, however, a sufficient condition for companies to implement ABC.

Most previous studies focus on the implementation of ABC in Western developed countries. The results of this study make a contribution to existing knowledge in the area of the implementation of ABC, especially in Eastern developing countries such as Jordan. In addition, this research adds further evidence to the value of studying management accounting, and more specifically changes in management accounting practice. It describes the developments undertaken in the implementation of a new system and how a new system becomes accepted in practice.

The purpose of this study was to examine a factor structure of human resource management (HRM) practice scales through testing a causal model of HRM practices and to have one combined composite multi-dimensional HRM scale, to identify possible future directions for HRM strategy development and professional practice in Jordan.

Data were collected from 493 front-line employees from Jordanian organisations. The measurement model was tested on the complete dataset using exploratory factor analysis employing SPSS 17.0. Maximum likelihood method was used to determine the underlying factor structures. Confirmatory factor analysis was employed using LISREL 8.80 to further investigate the latent structure of the factors.

This study finally evidenced a good fit of data for a hypothesis four-factor model. The final model supported a conceptual framework that is inclusive of four domains, recruitment and selection, training and development, performance appraisal, and rewards and benefits, and lends support to the construct validity of the consolidated HRM practices scale.

First, the limited amount of research available on HR practices has limited the opportunity to gather content-rich information from the previous studies. Second, this study used three different scales to measure the four HRM practices as there was no one composite scale. Third, the validation of the HRM practices scale was based entirely on front-line employees working in Jordanian organisations. As a result, the psychometric properties of the HRM practices scale may not be generalisable to varied professions.

The findings of the study highlight the importance of the composite views of the HRM practices scale as a multi-dimensional construct. The study illustrates the parameter estimates representing relationships between the constructs under investigation.

The present study emphasises the need to expand the focus on HRM practices and contributes to the knowledge in several grounds. First, it validates the structure of HRM practices scales in Jordan. Second, this study enriched the understanding of HRM practices, drawing a sample of participants from different sectors (insurance, finance, services, accounting and industry), and suggests that these variables are as equally prominent as others in explaining employees' attitudes toward HRM practices.

This paper summarises the main research findings from a detailed, qualitative set of structured interviews and case studies of private finance initiative (PFI) schemes in the UK, which involve the construction of built facilities. The research, which was funded by the Foundation for the Built Environment, examines the emergence of PFI in the UK. Benefits and problems in the PFI process are investigated. Best practice, the key critical factors for success, and lessons for the future are also analysed.

The research is based around 11 semi‐structured interviews conducted with stakeholders in key PFI projects in the UK.

The research demonstrates that value for money and risk transfer are key success criteria. High procurement and transaction costs are a feature of PFI projects, and the large‐scale nature of PFI projects frequently acts as barrier to entry.

The research is based on a limited number of in‐depth case study interviews. The paper also shows that further research is needed to find better ways to measure these concepts empirically.

The paper is important in highlighting four main areas of practical improvement in the PFI process: value for money assessment; establishing end‐user needs; developing competitive markets and developing appropriate skills in the public sector.

The paper examines the drivers, barriers and critical success factors for PFI in the UK for the first time in detail and will be of value to property investors, financiers, and others involved in the PFI process.

Examines the recent work of three authors, gives examples of projects in organizations and quotes facilities managers, all to show that office design improvements, made with the participation of employees, result in measurable increases in output, reduced costs and improved service quality. Notes how this phenomenon is compatible with and can form part of a total quality management system for service organizations.

A lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer+ (LGBTQ+) community’s hunger for its history became an arena for creative, unorthodox work involving a library and information science (LIS) educator, librarians and other educators, and even a university library. The result was fundamentally collaborative, involving community and educational organizations; all inspired by social responsibility and community engagement goals, some of which can be found in a university mission statement. The story of these individuals and organizations begins with a drive toward a greater awareness of LGBTQ+ history, a goal that led to creating inclusive high school history curricula. Along the way, these efforts generated information resources such as a community-generated database, a temporary history exhibit, a conference, and a workshop geared to gay straight alliance (GSA) organizations in high schools. GSAs and their statewide supporting organization, the Illinois Safe School Alliance, were also the part of this work. While the larger goal of this work was to help diverse constituencies understand the importance of their history by developing, curating, and utilizing information resources that fulfill overlooked community information needs, this chapter comes to focus on a piece of that work, the development of Illinois’s first LGBTQ+ history elective. Consequently, this chapter can show how librarians and libraries can actualize social justice aims and thereby expand traditional library practices through sustained efforts that may lead to smaller specific goals, some of which may develop in unforeseen ways. The key is to expand the existing aims of libraries into sustained community engagement while remaining open to the opportunities that arise along the way.

The aim of this paper is to highlight and provide a stronger focus on the nature of human resource management (HRM) in Jordan.

This paper discusses four practices of HRM: recruitment and selection, training and development, performance appraisal and rewards and benefit; and links these practices with social factors: political environment, economical issues and cultural values.

The findings suggest that HRM in Jordan has not yet received due attention. The employee recruitment and selection process is largely inadequate and needs effective attention. In many Arab and more specifically Jordanian organizations, expenditure and time spent on training and development are considered unuseful and unnecessary functions.

The effectiveness of even skilled and qualified employees will be limited if they are not encouraged and motivated to work, but through HRM practices, they can be encouraged to work harder and smarter. Increasingly, employees' performance and skills can also be influenced by HRM practices, which control the acquisition and development of the organization's human capital.

Jordanian organizations are facing major problems surrounding the development of human capital, including high turnover rates and a lack of skilled employees. Low spending on research, training and development has fuelled these problems. HRM literature shows that many Arab organizations, including public and private Jordanian organizations, need to devote more attention to their HRM practices.

Introduced into the literature a decade ago, grit originally defined as perseverance and passion for long-term goals has stimulated considerable research on positive effects primarily in the academic and military contexts, as well as attracted widespread media attention. Despite recent criticism regarding grit’s construct and criterion-related validity, research on grit has begun to spill over into the work context as well. In this chapter, the authors provide an overview of the initial theoretical foundations of grit as a motivational driver, and present newer conceptualizations on the mechanisms of grit’s positive effects rooted in goal-setting theory. Furthermore, the authors also draw attention to existing shortcomings of the current definition and measurement of grit, and their implications for its scientific and practical application. After establishing a theoretical understanding, the authors discuss the potential utility of grit for human resource management, related to staffing and recruitment, development and training, and performance management systems as well as performance evaluations. The authors conclude this chapter with a discussion of necessary and potential future research, and consider the practical implications of grit in its current state.

The purpose of this paper is designed to test a conceptual model founded on the theoretical background generated above, and to evaluate the latent factor structure of organisational commitment among frontline employees in Jordanian organisations.

Principal component analysis has been used to determine the underlying factor structures for exploratory factor analysis. A test of the model uses a path analytic approach with LISREL 8.80 for confirmatory factor analysis.

The results indicated that the data relationships are consistent with the causal model of organisational commitment and contribute to understanding the attitude of the employees. Also, the current results emphasize the need for a practical approach in examining organisational commitment level as employers can control the individuals' perceptions in accordance with the business settings.

This paper contributes to theory with respect to organisational commitment and employee attitudes. The findings encourage Jordanian organisations to focus more on employee perceptions and commitment, by providing a better understanding of the motivational factors at work.

This paper contributes to the knowledge in several grounds. First, it validates the structure of organisational commitment in a non-Western context. Second, it contributes to the knowledge of the topic of commitment in Jordan.

ONE CAN BE forgiven for worrying about the ‘Peter principle’ when taking up a post on the practising side of the profession after nine years teaching librarianship.