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The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how assessment design was used to enhance students’ critical thinking in a subject concerned with business enterprise systems. The study shows positive results and favorable perceptions of the merit of the approach.

A case study approach was used to examine how the problem-based assessment task was redesigned to enhance students’ critical thinking. The study documents post-graduate accounting students’ achievements, including some comparison with results from an earlier version of the task. Data were collected using surveys and anonymous student comments.

The case study reveals that the merit of the assessment design lay in presenting students with new material that generated some cognitive dissonance, which had to be resolved, rather than just applying subject knowledge to a new scenario. By requiring students to assimilate and harmonize the materials, they were encouraged to think more critically about how their prior learning applied to the problem.

Congruent with widespread calls by employers and professional bodies, there is renewed focus on the importance of developing critical thinking skills as an integral part of higher education courses. Whilst achievement is usually realized interdependently through communication, problem solving and analysis, critical thinking must be fostered in the context of the specific professional knowledge. This study contributes knowledge about how students’ critical thinking may be fostered, with the added difficulty that the context involves a focus on the role and value of technology.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a frank reflection on the authors' journey in applying social theory to understand the routine use of a transaction‐processing system in a rich field context.

Inspired by a perplexing initial observation, the program of research moved quickly from one of more traditional positivist methods (experiments and surveys) to case study research. The case study involved observation and comparative analysis of the routine use of a reservation system across a large franchised accommodation chain.

As a reflective essay, the key findings relate to the research process itself. The essence of the findings is that applying social theory is itself a social process.

The paper finds that insight can come from understanding the routine use of IT as a social artefact, not just from studying crises or latest innovations.

SCOR 10.0, released in late 2010, is the second version of the supply chain operations reference model (SCOR) to incorporate risk management processes, metrics and best practices. Given the paucity of studies that have explored the coverage and integration of supply chain risk management (SCRM) within SCOR, the analysis and suggested improvements for SCRM are designed to enhance SCOR’s collaborative and coordinated management of supply chain (SC) risks. The paper aims to dicsuss these issues.

Critical analysis was used to analyse the coverage and integration of SCRM within SCOR 10.0.

Discrepancies were identified in how SCRM has been incorporated into SCOR, including issues with the hierarchical representation of SCRM processes, metrics, best practices and skills. These may potentially propagate into difficulties in embedding risk management processes within other SC processes, visualizing risk metrics in a SC’s value hierarchy and reconciling SCOR’s SCRM with organizational enterprise risk management.

This paper is limited to theoretical analysis of the coverage and integration of risk in SCOR 10.0. Once the issues identified are remedied, the subsequent suggested improvements require validation through empirical testing.

Despite SCOR’s wide acceptance as a reference model in managing SC operations, there has been no investigation of its approach to SCRM. The analysis addresses this lack of prior investigation by analysing SCRM in the latest version, SCOR 10.0. The paper identifies deficiencies and suggests amendments regarding SCRM’s coverage and integration of SCRM.

Executive coaching is gaining in popularity as a management developmental activity which facilitates organisational change for sustainability. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationships among coachee feedback receptivity, pre‐training motivation, learning goal orientation, developmental self‐efficacy, self‐reported job performance improvement, self‐awareness, task performance and affective commitment in terms of executive coaching effectiveness as a form of management development.

A non‐randomised controlled trial research design was conducted to examine the hypothesized relationships among coachee characteristics and executive coaching effectiveness, as reflected in greater levels of individual outcomes in corporate Israel.

A significant interaction between learning goal orientation and pre‐training motivation on improvement in job self‐reported performance was found. Additionally, a negative relationship was found between learning goal orientation and improvement in self‐reported job performance among coachees with low levels of pre‐training motivation. Finally, self‐efficacy demonstrates a positive relationship with job performance improvement.

This research provides greater insights about the type of individual outcomes executive coaching should achieve, and under which conditions coaching is likely to be more beneficial for participants. This research has value for designing and implementing coaching programmes to drive sustainable development and innovation.