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THIS issue opens the new volume of THE LIBRARY WORLD and it is natural that we should pause to glance at the long road we have travelled. For over forty years our pages have been open to the most progressive and practical facts, theories and methods of librarianship; our contributors have included almost every librarian who has held an important office; and we have always welcomed the work of younger, untried men who seemed to have promise— many of whom have indeed fulfilled it. In the strain and stress of the First World War we maintained interest and forwarded the revisions in library methods which adapted them to the after‐war order. Today we have similar, even severer, problems before us, and we hope to repeat the service we were then able to give. In this we trust that librarians, who have always regarded THE LIBRARY WORLD with affection, will continue to support us and be not tempted because of temporary stringency, to make a victim of a journal which has given so long and so independent a service.

This follow‐on article continues to explore counselling skills for managers and personnel professionals. It challenges the reader to identify the differences in approach when counselling skills are applied to performance appraisal, coaching and mentoring situations. Particular emphasis is placed on the skills necessary to build a strong working relationship with a subordinate, because without these skills lasting changes in performance are unlikely to occur.

Counselling can be seen as “soft” by many managers and personnel professionals, but is actually one of the best ways of improving performance at work. Shows how counselling significantly improved a sales woman’s performance by identifying the underlying problem. Looks at how some of the skills of a professional counsellor can be applied by managers and key professionals in their day‐to‐day business. Uses a useful counselling skills model and identifies potential pitfalls.

The article seeks to shed light on the effects of recent developments in financial services on the organisational structure and strategic planning process in banks and building societies. Evidence is used from a survey of the sector to assess the nature and relative importance of problems experienced by banks and building societies; and evidence is presented on developments in strategic planning techniques and the problems caused by the introduction of new products.

In both the United States and Europe there has been a spectacular growth in the number and importance of management buy‐outs since the late 1970s. The typical characteristics of these deals differ somewhat on either side of the Atlantic in ways which are outlined below. However, in each environment the term “buy‐out” refers essentially to the transfer of ownership of the assets of an existing firm — which may itself be an independent entity or a wholly‐owned subsidiary or division — to a new and especially established group of equity holders which intends to keep at least some of those assets in their former use. In the US buy‐outs have often involved very large asset transfers, indeed multi‐billion dollar deals have been quite frequent. The transaction is typically financed by a limited subscription of equity from specialist venture capitalists and perhaps from the firm's management, together with a very large input of debt capital. The latter has often been in the form of high coupon (so called “junk”) bonds. The characteristically high ratio of debt to equity in buy‐out finance has given rise to their American description as leveraged buy‐outs.

Takes a practical look at bringing creativity back into problem solving. Even teams with exceptional individuals can flounder without new ideas. New research shows that a common “type” of individual found frequently in organizations may be stifling ideas. Links made between the Myers‐Briggs Type Indicator and Belbin Team Roles to focus on potential difficulties. Choose between three options to help overcome the pitfalls and bring back future profits through...current creativity!

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between economic growth, foreign direct investment (FDI) and corruption.

Data for 42 developing countries and 28 developed countries is analyzed using panel dynamic ordinary least squares.

FDI has a significant influence on economic growth in both the short run and the long run for developing and developed countries. In the cases of the developing economies, lower levels of corruption enhance the impact that FDI has on economic growth.

The study links corruption to the impact of FDI on economic growth.

The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly impacted work, leading to the adoption of remote work practices and changes in power dynamics and trust. Although managing remote work has received much attention, the impact of the quality of work life on the effectiveness of hybrid workplaces has been less studied. This study aims to examine the relationship between quality of work life and psychological capital among organizational leaders using an artificial neural network (ANN) model.

This study used a cross-sectional quantitative methodology. A structured questionnaire was used to collect 268 responses from organizational leaders using the convenience sampling method. The data collected were analyzed using the ANN model in the Python interface.

The ANN model training and testing revealed that there is a positive relationship between the quality of work life and psychological capital among organizational leaders. The R-squared values for hope, efficacy, resilience and optimism were 85.19%, 82.08%, 78.55% and 81.08%, respectively, in the training set, and 81.30%, 78.95%, 76.52% and 71.41% in the testing set.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no previous research in the context of studying the relationship between quality of work life and psychological capital among organizational leaders using the machine learning approach – ANN model.

Post-event information (PEI) may distort eyewitness memory and lead to erroneous eyewitness testimonies. This paper aims to explore whether factors such as volitional engagement with PEI (e.g. choice to engage with a co-witness) and memory distrust influence misinformation acceptance and the perceived credibility of a co-witness.

Participants (n = 223) completed the Memory Distrust Scale and then watched a short mock crime video. Thereafter, two-thirds of the participants were asked whether they would prefer or not to listen to a co-witness’ account of the witnessed event (choice condition), and one-third of the participants did not have the choice (control condition). Every participant listened to the co-witness account (which contained items of misinformation); thus, those who preferred to listen to the testimony were in the choice-yes (i.e., volition) condition and those who preferred not to listen were in the choice-no (i.e., non-volition) condition. Finally, participants completed a cued recall task assessing their memory of the video and acceptance of misinformation. They also provided ratings to establish the perceived credibility of the co-witness.

The results indicated that neither volition nor memory distrust influenced misinformation acceptance. However, those who preferred to listen to the testimony (i.e., the choice-yes condition) perceived the co-witness as more credible than those in the choice-no or control conditions.

The findings suggest that witnesses are susceptible to misinformation regardless of their willingness to engage with or avoid PEI. Further implications and future research directions are discussed.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to investigate the role of volition and memory distrust as a trait in eyewitnesses tendency to engage with or avoid post-event information. The research explores whether these mechanisms impact upon memory conformity and perceived co-witness credibility.

Industrial incident investigations determine what caused an adverse workplace event so that preventative measures can be instituted and reduce the risk of such incidents happening again. Investigators gather evidence from multiple sources in an investigation and one such source is the people in, or around, the industrial incident. The purpose of the current study is to examine if recall strategy could affect eyewitnesses' recollections of a workplace incident.

The current study is a 3 (Post‐Event Context: Think, Filler, Discuss)×2 (Incident Investigation Form: Psychologically‐Based vs. Standard Investigation Form) between‐subjects factorial design. Participant‐witnesses watched a simulated videotaped workplace incident (n=196) then either: thought about the event, discussed it with fellow witnesses, or engaged in an unrelated task. Subsequently, participants recalled the details of the adverse event on an incident report form: a Standard Investigation Form or a form based on principles of cognition (Psychologically‐Based Form).

Compared to the Standard Investigation Form condition, eyewitnesses in the Psychologically‐Based Form condition recalled significantly more pieces of accurate information at a reduced accuracy rate. Post‐event context produced no significant differences in participant‐witnesses' reporting.

The data suggest that incorporating some principles of memory and cognition into incident investigations have the potential to enhance accurate recollection of a workplace event.

This study is among the first to apply psychological theory to enhance eyewitness reports of an industrial incident. In so doing this research contributes to recent literature that explores eyewitness recall for industrial events.