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The present study aims to focus on workplace learning and understanding learning as creation (Kessels, 1995, 1996, 2001; Verdonschot, 2009; Billett and Choy, 2013) to bridge the gap between education and practice addressing the complex real world issue of poverty and social exclusion in The Netherlands. When researchers and practitioners are confronted with the dynamic complexity of the real world (Mahoney and Sanchez, 2004), it becomes evident how limited the ability of researchers and managers is to fully comprehend, describe, explain and (perhaps) predict the world as it is and as it is becoming. A mission of reconnecting theory-building from the outside and theory-building from the inside requires a process of interconnected research and practice in which interactions between managers and researchers have a purposeful focus on theory-building.

The study is an example of engaged scholarship as proposed by Van de Ven and Johnson (2006) and a baseline study of a time series design from 2001-2008 comparing the effects of a “current treatment” in social work in The Netherlands at t0; explaining the collaborative design between practitioners, innovation consultants and scholars of a “new treatment”; and measuring the effects on social quality at t1.

The paper provides insight in the level of social quality of clients in a situation of poverty and social exclusion. Lessons learned from workplace learning as creation in social work practice provides input for improving work practices through training and development of social workers.

Early notions for a potential new “treatment” have clearly not been fully dealt with in this baseline study. As stated this base-line study aims at overcoming the lack of insight in the client’s life-world and open the black box to gain fresh insights. This is clearly just a first step of a much longer learning and creation process. Now that more insight in the clients life world is available, engaged researchers have proposed a new, more productive mindset of clients in a situation of poverty and social exclusion that they should not be regarded as a “granite base”, but rather as “architects and builders” of their own life–worlds, with the social services as the “main contractor” to build trust, empower by helping to explicate personal survival strategies and planning for social inclusion (Van Damme, 1999). The limited number of respondents (N = 31) in this study is a limitation of this study, and findings cannot be generalised. Findings are no more than early indications and are not representative for other populations. Further research on a larger scale and in other research settings is needed.

Implications are that design principles for a new and more participatory and socially oriented approach for workplace learning as creation should include the role of building trust in establishing relational quality between the public service organisation, other institutions and the client. First indications are that trust and empowerment may better enable clients in a situation of poverty and social exclusion to take charge of the design of their own lives and to construct and co-construct it accordingly. The role of actors from social services to build trusted relations, empower and co-construct an improved reality bear both elements of social learning, through dialogue (construct and co-construct knowledge = to know) and elements from social empowerment as part of the social quality concept (to act). Understanding the effects of the “current treatment” as input for workplace learning allows for an improved connection between practice and theory on workplace learning and social quality, thereby making a decisive contribution in closing the gap between real-world complex issues and education.

A better understanding of the aspects of social quality and social exclusion from theory and from social work practice.

The original contribution of the research is the provision of insight into the complexity of workplace learning in social work when dealing with poverty and social exclusion. The focus on both the process of learning, as well as the outcome of learning, can be considered original.

This study uses a stakeholder perspective to explain the content of mission statements, in particular the inclusion of stakeholder groups. The study uses stakeholder dependency theory and resource dependency theory to explain the content of mission statement. In line with this perspective, stakeholders in this study will be classified as either being resource providers, such as employees and customers, or non‐resource providers, such as the community and the environment. The primary aim of the study is to find evidence for the theoretical relationship between the importance of stakeholders to the company and the inclusion of stakeholder groups in the company's mission statement.

The use of a large dataset with 490 observations enables a multivariate analysis of mission statement content, focusing on country‐, industry‐, and company‐specific factors.

The study finds that stakeholder groups the company is more dependent on, are addressed in mission statements more frequently. In addition, the profile of an industry, legal origin and ownership concentration are found to be related with stakeholder inclusion in mission statements.

The database used adopts a broad definition of a mission statement, as a result of which the study may also include documents such as vision statements. Additional factors might exist that could explain the inclusion of stakeholder groups in the mission statement. For example, Hope states that both legal origin and culture are important in explaining corporate disclosure. Therefore, literature on cultural dimensions by Hofstede and Schwartz might also be used as explanatory variables in future research. Finally, additional evidence on the industry classification developed in this study is required to further substantiate these results.

The observed differences in mission statement content with respect to stakeholder management signify the fact that the mission statement is not a standardized document which can simply be ignored by managers. Therefore, managers must be aware of the environment in which the company is situated, in order to approach the stakeholders which are most important to the organization. A failure to recognize and include essential stakeholders in the mission statement may be costly in the long run, particularly when competitors are better able to address these stakeholders.

This study adds to the existing stream of literature on mission statements by introducing the dependence of the company on the stakeholder as an explanatory factor for the inclusion of stakeholders in mission statements. Consequently, the study uses stakeholder dependency theory and resource dependency theory to explain the content of mission statement, rather than signaling theory. Furthermore, this is one of few empirical studies on mission statements that uses a large dataset with 490 observations, enabling a multivariate analysis of mission statement content.

This research examines what motivates professional truck drivers to engage in eco-driving by linking their self-reports with objective driving scores.

Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) is illustrated in an embedded, single-case study of a Finnish carrier with 17 of its truck drivers. Data are obtained through in-depth interviews with drivers, their fuel-efficiency scores generated by fleet telematics and a focus group session with the management.

Discrepancies between drivers’ intentions and eco-driving behaviors are illustrated in a two-by-two matrix that classifies drivers into four categories: ideal eco-drivers, wildcards, wannabes and non-eco-drivers. Attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control are examined for drivers within each category, revealing that drivers’ perceptions did not always align with the reality of their driving.

This study strengthens the utility of TPB through data triangulation while also revealing the theory’s inherent limitations in elucidating the underlying causes of its three antecedents and their impact on the variance in driving behaviors.

Managerial insights are offered to fleet managers and eco-driving solution providers to stipulate the right conditions for drivers to enhance fuel-efficiency outcomes of transport fleets.

This is one of the first studies to give a voice to professional truck drivers about their daily eco-driving practice.

Despite the increasing heterogeneity of the organizational workforce – as a consequence of major worldwide socioeconomic trends – a considerable number of studies shows how traditionally underrepresented groups still face significant barriers in entering the labor market. Literature has highlighted several grounds for discrimination: ethnicity, age, gender, religion, social status, sexual orientation, etc., and while some of these are extensively investigated (e.g. ethnicity), other fields are still gaining evidence (e.g. social status).

In the current paper, we aim at providing a review of current experimental studies aimed at detecting discrimination in hiring and the possible interventions to reduce bias. Then, we offer a point of reflection for policymaking, analyzing whether such issue should be addressed at the level of the individual (i-frame) or rather at a more systemic level (s-frame).

The paper provides substantial evidence that discrimination in hiring still exists, despite the never greater pressure for firms’ social sustainability. Further, existing interventions appear to have an overall limited impact in reducing bias. Hence, we suggest that the issue of discrimination in hiring should be tackled at a systemic level, by means of s-frame interventions.

The paper offers a comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon by systematizing the existing body of knowledge deriving from empirical research and offering a broad perspective onto policy implications.

Notes that vitamin K has long been known to be required for blood clotting, and more recent evidence suggests a role in bone mineralization, atherosclerosis, and apoptosis. Guidelines for vitamin K intake were set in 1991; however, the food compositional data and intake levels in the UK were not known and, as such, no dietary reference values were set. Since then, work in the field has progressed enormously, with a provisional food composition database being developed, both in the UK and USA, and a healthy population reference plasma range for K₁ has been established in the UK in parallel with detailed estimates of K₁ intake. Plasma K₁ and the proportion of undercarboxylated prothrombin and osteocalcin have been identified as sensitive functional markers of vitamin K status. Current work on aspects of vitamin K and bone health in the elderly will further assist with the setting of dietary reference values for the future.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the implementation of International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 16 in developing countries to enhance asset pronouncements or the quality of opaque accounting information for listed firms’ leasing transactions.

This study designed ordinary least square (OLS) regression models to examine the hypotheses in two ordered tests. The first-order test ascertained the association between fundamental accounting information and earnings or stock prices. Then, the second-order test was nested to add the instrument variable to the first-order one. In addition, the researchers selected 17 Asia-Pacific countries.

First, this study contributes to the fair value of firms’ asset measurements, and the accounting discipline requires adaptive scalability to produce future potential cash flows. Second, it reduces literature gaps between the pros and cons of the opaqueness of assets. In addition, these research arguments would be the referee for reducing information’s opacity. Finally, this study demonstrates the impact of IFRS 16’s implementation on firms’ conservatism levels and entropy’s information quality, requiring the regulators to accommodate these issues.

Due to the implementation of IFRS 16, the authors are neutral about the impacted financial statements and political consequences for these Asia-Pacific listed firms and countries. First, we propose the uniqueness of problematic elaboration since implementing IFRS 16 results in a more pronounced or opaque information quality due to vulnerable complexities in the financial statements. Second, this implementation is associated with hierarchical information and conservatism, producing accounting information entropy or negentropy. However, the hierarchy theory suggests various levels of conservatism that could increase or decrease the information’s quality.