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We conducted the Universal Accreditation Board (UAB) practice analysis to examine perceptions of US public relations practitioners and educators regarding the essential competencies for entry-level and mid-career professionals. This is a trend analysis survey that is conducted every five years to assess changes in required competencies.

The survey was distributed via email to organizations affiliated with the UAB. Two variations of the survey were available to differentiate between practitioners and educators. The study was conducted from February through March of 2024.

We found practitioners’ expectations for others exceeded their own actual performance levels. This may be attributed to social comparison bias. We have provided recommendations for updating the Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) and certificate exams based on our findings. For example, we recommend senior professionals adopt a nurturing leadership style when mentoring young professionals. The study also revealed that educators overestimated generative artificial intelligence (AI) use in the workplace, as practitioners exhibited a slower rate of adoption of AI. The literature and theories that guided the paper were AI use, the history of accreditation in public relations and the diffusion of innovation theory.

This research paper provides insights related to the diffusion of AI competencies in the workplace. Additionally, this research adds to public relations literature by revealing the gap in expectations of senior professionals for beginning and mid-career professionals and their own job performance.

User‐generated media (UGM) like YouTube, MySpace, and Wikipedia have become tremendously popular over the last few years. The purpose of this paper is to present an analytical framework for explaining the appeal of UGM.

This paper is mainly theoretical due to a relative lack of empirical evidence. After an introduction on the emergence of UGM, this paper investigates in detail how and why people use UGM, and what factors make UGM particularly appealing, through a uses and gratifications perspective. Finally, the key elements of this study are summarized and the future research directions about UGM are discussed.

This paper argues that individuals take with UGM in different ways for different purposes: they consume contents for fulfilling their information, entertainment, and mood management needs; they participate through interacting with the content as well as with other users for enhancing social connections and virtual communities; and they produce their own contents for self‐expression and self‐actualization. These three usages are separate analytically but interdependent in reality. This paper proposes a model to describe such interdependence. Furthermore, it argues that two usability attributes of UGM, “easy to use” and “let users control,” enable people to perform the aforementioned activities efficiently so that people can derive greater gratification from their UGM use.

UGM are an extremely important topic in new media scholarship, and this study represents the first step toward understanding the appeal of UGM in an integrated way.

The devastating impact of catastrophic disasters on terrestrial infrastructure requires the adoption of alternative technology solutions among humanitarian organizations. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of the most commonly used satellite technologies in relief logistics: imagery and mapping, portable global positioning system (GPS) positioning devices, telecommunications, and GPS vehicle tracking.

The paper examines both the benefits and limitations of satellite technologies in light of the existing literature and through a complementary questionnaire survey with field workers involved in humanitarian operations in the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

The results show that the use of satellite technologies can facilitate most of the key logistics challenges encountered by relief actors. However, they also highlight important barriers within humanitarian organizations such as the lack of skilled workers and high costs, underlining the need for long-term training, resource investments, and cooperation between users and technology providers.

The research findings remain valid only in the context of catastrophic disaster responses, which lead to similar destructions, logistical problems, and needs for satellite technologies.

This paper shows how satellite technologies can support humanitarian professionals in the field. It also provides policy recommendations that can facilitate the use of these technologies.

The applications of satellite technologies within humanitarian supply chains are not well-defined in the literature. This paper is the first to be dedicated to analyze the role of the main satellite technologies used in a relief logistics setting.

Educators are responsible for supporting the learning of all students, and those identified with learning disabilities. School organizations support educators by creating systematic processes that identify needs and support special education teams in their consideration of appropriate supports. Assistive technology (AT) is a critical consideration for students with learning disabilities by promoting access for a meaningful and inclusive education. This chapter offers recommendations for educators in the development and inclusion of educational structures that recognize and champion the practices of AT, the differences from education technology, as well as AT considerations, to directly support the needs of students with learning disabilities.

This paper examines instructional coaching as a means to support teachers at all levels in primary and secondary schools in implementing new and innovative practices using the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework as a design guide.

This mixed-methods study compared the impact of an instructional coaching intervention around the implementation of the UDL framework on educators versus the UDL implementation efforts of educators who did not receive the coaching intervention. Coached participants shared their experiences with the coaching cycle. These qualitative data were collected through teacher interviews, self-assessments, and observations. The data assisted in the interpretation of the quantitative findings from a quasi-experimental pre-test–post-test comparison group design.

The results of this study revealed positive outcomes for teachers in knowledge and application of UDL, although not at statistically significant levels. The qualitative data collected supported the positive gains and revealed that teachers valued and changed their practices from the use of coaching as they navigated the implementation of UDL in their learning environments.

One limitation to be noted includes the district site that participated in this study had used the UDL framework for several years and maintained high expectations for teachers to increase their UDL-aligned practices each year. Therefore, all teachers who participated in this study were under the same district evaluative expectations to participate in professional development at some level to increase proficiency with UDL implementation, whereas a district in the beginning stages of UDL implementation might serve as a better gauge of growth. Additionally, the control participants were self-identified and not randomly assigned.

This study is one of the first conducted that investigates the effect of instructional coaching on teachers' increased understanding and implementation of the UDL framework. This study examines instructional coaching as a stand-alone professional development in supporting teachers' use of UDL in design-inclusive classrooms. Written into US law, the UDL framework is a scientifically valid framework that supports teachers with the design of flexible and accessible classrooms for an increasingly diverse population of students.

Drawing on the social exchange perspective, the authors explore the roles of satisfaction over material rewards, perceived organizational politics and career ambition in the relationship between harmonious workplace climate and employee altruistic behavior in the context of British public sector.

The authors employed SPSS software to estimate ordinary least squares models to test their hypotheses by analyzing data from 161 supervisor–employee dyads from a UK local government.

Satisfaction over material rewards mediates the relationship between harmonious workplace climate and employee altruistic behavior. Both perceived organizational politics and career ambition moderate the mediated effect of harmonious workplace climate on employee altruistic behavior via satisfaction over material rewards.

This study advances the social exchange theory by showing that the norm of reciprocity (e.g. harmonious workplace climate in this study) may not be the only key driver of exchange for altruistic behavior among public sector workers. Still, it can be mediated by satisfaction with pay and promotion opportunities and may be conditional upon individuals' career ambition or their perceptions of organizational politics.

The purpose of this paper is to summarize the life and works of Alfred Chandler and highlight the impact of his thoughts on organizational theory, strategy and history.

The paper analyzes Alfred Chandler's life and the lasting contributions his works have provided to many disciplines as well as the work of his revisionists. Furthermore, the paper analyzes his contributions to the understanding of US business history and global business history.

Chandler's conceptualization of the growth of large business and management practices have shaped business history by transitioning from an American exceptionalist view to a more global comparative perspective.

The paper provides Chandler's insights as well as those of his revisionists regarding USA and comparative global business history.

The paper highlights Chandler's cross‐disciplinary impact and analyzes Chandlerian and revisionist perspectives in both the American exceptionalist as well as the global comparative eras of Chandler's life.

Assesses the extent to which environmental turbulence is affecting the pricing behavior of industrial marketers. Introduces a conceptual model, based on a review of the available literature, in which pricing behavior is the result of changing dynamics in the external environment of firms. Assumes that price itself includes multiple dimensions which combine to form an overall strategy. Describes the results of a survey of a cross‐section of firms in South Africa. Draws a number of implications for theory and practice.

Appropriate self‐regulation of exposure to driving in view of age‐related declines in driving ability is a significant problem for older individuals in the UK, as programmes designed to encourage and support self‐regulation are sorely lacking. This paper outlines the development of a CD‐based Mixed Media and Virtual Reality (MMVR) programme, consisting of: information and reference material; cognitive tests; and virtual reality (VR) driving simulator components, all of which are orientated to address the older driver. The research on the self‐regulation of driving that informs the rationale and development of the ‘shell’ of the MMVR programme is overviewed, followed by a description of state of development of the cognitive tests and VR driving simulation components of the CD. It is argued that the development of programmes such as that proposed in this paper are necessary to reconcile the mobility needs of the expanding UK elderly population and public safety concerns.