Nizar Baidoun and Valerie Anne Anderson
Grounded in social cognitive career theory (SCCT), this study aims to examine the influence of contextual factors on the relationship between career satisfaction and…
Abstract
Purpose
Grounded in social cognitive career theory (SCCT), this study aims to examine the influence of contextual factors on the relationship between career satisfaction and organizational commitment, within the banking sector in Kuwait.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a cross-sectional design analyzing a self-report questionnaire (N = 278).
Findings
This study investigates affective, normative and continuance commitment in relation to career satisfaction, within the banking sector in Kuwait. Findings indicate a positive relationship between career satisfaction and all of affective, normative and continuance commitment; although the relationship that appears to be the strongest is between career satisfaction and normative commitment.
Research limitations/implications
The single site, cross-sectional approach is a limitation. The data were collected before the COVID-19 pandemic. Future research into career satisfaction and organizational commitment in different sectors is necessary and a replication of this study in a post-COVID context would also be valuable.
Practical implications
Human resource development (HRD) policies in contexts such as Kuwait should prioritize career progression initiatives to enhance career satisfaction and contribute to increased organizational commitment. More attention is necessary to organizational HRD career planning and development policies and processes. Effective line manager development programs to equip managers to provide feedback and constructive performance management are recommended, as is the organizational provision of career counseling and guidance to support career development policies and processes.
Originality/value
This study combines the use of established constructs with an SCCT theoretical lends to contribute new theorization of the relationship between career satisfaction and organizational commitment in non-Western cultural contexts. It challenges assumptions in current theorization of the relationship between career satisfaction and commitment that privilege affective commitment over other dimensions.
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Heather Short and Valerie Anne Anderson
The purpose of this study is to explore the implications of national and international standards for human resource development (HRD) practice. It focuses on the experiences…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the implications of national and international standards for human resource development (HRD) practice. It focuses on the experiences, perceptions and learning of those involved in the social construction of standards and standardisation processes.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is grounded in institutional and organisational excellence theories and adopts a qualitative approach based in social constructivism. Thematic analysis of the data obtained from 13 semi-structured interviews leads to a discussion of awareness of standards, standards adoption including constraints, and impact of standards.
Findings
The findings indicate that that there has been a disconnect between the potential impact of British Standards Institute (BSI) HR standards and what has occurred in practice with little awareness of the BSI standards among practitioners.
Research limitations/implications
This paper identifies an absence of institutional isomorphism in the HR arena and highlights the potential for a “standards-practice” gap where HR standards formation processes are perceived as detracting from flexibility and innovativeness in organisational practice.
Originality/value
This study contributes a new perspective of the implications of HR standards formation from the perspective of those involved and further contributes to the wider theorisation of standards in the HRD field.
Sharon Anne Mavin, Carole Elliott, Valerie Stead and Jannine Williams
The purpose of this special issue is to extend the Economic and Social Sciences Research Council (ESRC)-funded UK seminar series–Challenging Gendered Media (Mis)Representations of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this special issue is to extend the Economic and Social Sciences Research Council (ESRC)-funded UK seminar series–Challenging Gendered Media (Mis)Representations of Women Professionals and Leaders; and to highlight research into the gendered media constructions of women managers and leaders and outline effective methods and methodologies into diverse media.
Design/methodology/approach
Gendered analysis of television, autobiographies (of Sheryl Sandberg, Karren Brady, Hillary Clinton and Julia Gillard), broadcast news media and media press through critical discourse analysis, thematic analysis, metaphor and computer-aided text analysis software following the format of the Gender Media Monitoring Project (2015) and [critical] ecological framework for advancing social change.
Findings
The papers surface the gendered nature of media constructions of women managers and leaders and offer methods and methodologies for others to follow to interrogate gendered media. Further, the papers discuss – how women’s leadership is glamourized, fetishized and sexualized; the embodiment of leadership for women; how popular culture can subvert the dominant gaze; how women use agency and how powerful gendered norms shape perceptions, discourses and norms and how these are resisted, repudiated and represented.
Practical implications
The papers focus upon how the media constructs women managers and leaders and offer implications of how media influences and is influenced by practice. There are recommendations provided as to how the media could itself be organized differently to reflect diverse audiences, and what can be done to challenge gendered media.
Social implications
Challenging gendered media representations of women managers and leaders is critical to social justice and equality for women in management and leadership.
Originality/value
This is an invited Special Issue comprising inaugural collection of research through which we get to “see” women and leaders and the gendered media gaze and to learn from research into popular culture through analysis of television, autobiographies and media press.
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Valerie Johnson, Sonia Ranade and David Thomas
This paper aims to focus on a highly significant yet under-recognised concern: the huge growth in the volume of digital archival information and the implications of this shift for…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to focus on a highly significant yet under-recognised concern: the huge growth in the volume of digital archival information and the implications of this shift for information professionals.
Design/methodology/approach
Though data loss and format obsolescence are often considered to be the major threats to digital records, the problem of scale remains under-acknowledged. This paper discusses this issue, and the challenges it brings using a case study of a set of Second World War service records.
Findings
TNA’s research has shown that it is possible to digitise large volumes of records to replace paper originals using rigorous procedures. Consequent benefits included being able to link across large data sets so that further records could be released.
Practical implications
The authors will discuss whether the technical capability, plus space and cost savings will result in increased pressure to retain, and what this means in creating a feedback-loop of volume.
Social implications
The work also has implications in terms of new definitions of the “original” archival record. There has been much debate on challenges to the definition of the archival record in the shift from paper to born-digital. The authors will discuss where this leaves the digitised “original” record.
Originality/value
Large volumes of digitised and born-digital records are starting to arrive in records and archive stores, and the implications for retention are far wider than simply digital preservation. By sharing novel research into the practical implications of large-scale data retention, this paper showcases potential issues and some approaches to their management.
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On April 2, 1987, IBM unveiled a series of long‐awaited new hardware and software products. The new computer line, dubbed the Personal Systems 30, 50, 60, and 80, seems destined…
Abstract
On April 2, 1987, IBM unveiled a series of long‐awaited new hardware and software products. The new computer line, dubbed the Personal Systems 30, 50, 60, and 80, seems destined to replace the XT and AT models that are the mainstay of the firm's current personal computer offerings. The numerous changes in hardware and software, while representing improvements on previous IBM technology, will require users purchasing additional computers to make difficult choices as to which of the two IBM architectures to adopt.