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Drawing on human capital theory and sustainable career theory, this paper aims to explore the impact of undertaking an industrial placement on the “Great Eight” competencies as perceived by university students and line managers.

618 students and their line managers across three cohorts (pre-COVID-19) took part in a longitudinal quantitative study. Students completed a three-wave questionnaire at the placement's start, middle, and end. Line managers completed the questionnaire during waves two and three to offer 360-degree feedback. Descriptive statistics and repeated measures ANOVA were applied to the dataset.

The impacts of undertaking a placement were highly variable for different competencies at the sub-scale level, although at the eight-scale level, the nuance was less pronounced. However, students self-perceived that all eight competencies increased between the start and end of the placement. Surprisingly, line managers perceived students' competencies to be higher than perceived by the students.

The value of undertaking a placement is often poorly measured (e.g. satisfaction) rather than competency-based outcomes, which can lead to conclusions that are overly simplistic and difficult to use in practice. Theoretically, this study advances understanding of human capital theory and sustainable career theory by understanding the role placements can play in developing human capital and preparing university students for sustainable careers. Practically, the findings of this study can help to close the university–industry skills gap by informing curriculum and placement scheme design and supporting students to acquire personal resources and signal these to prospective employers as an antecedent to career sustainability.

This study aims to examine the role of location autonomy (i.e. autonomy over where to work) in shaping employee mental distress during their working days.

A total of 316 employees from 6 organizations in the UK provided data for 4,082 half-day sessions, over 10 working days. Random intercept modeling is used to analyze half-day data nested within individuals.

Results show that location autonomy, beyond decision-making autonomy and work-method autonomy, is positively associated with the perception of task-environment (TE) fit which, in turn, contributes to lower mental distress during each half-day session. Results of supplementary analysis also show that location autonomy can contribute to higher absorption, task proficiency and job satisfaction via TE fit during each half-day session.

This study reveals the importance and uniqueness of location autonomy in shaping employees' outcomes, offering implications for how organizations can use this in the work–life flexibility policies to support employee mental health.

Discusses the change in the search‐to‐produce ratio from 3:1 to 1.5:1 free searches for every produce or update command. Explains what the OCLC considers to be on the ′search′ side and what activities are on the ′produce′ side of the ratio, focusing on numeric and derived keys, title browse, search history, and the use of microenhancers and CD450 searches.

The purpose of this book is to open a conversation on the idea of information experience, which we understand to be a complex, multidimensional engagement with information. In developing the book we invited colleagues to propose a chapter on any aspect of information experience, for example conceptual, methodological or empirical. We invited them to express their interpretation of information experience, to contribute to the development of this concept. The book has thus become a vehicle for interested researchers and practitioners to explore their thinking around information experience, including relationships between information experience, learning experience, user experience and similar constructs. It represents a collective awareness of information experience in contemporary research and practice. Through this sharing of multiple perspectives, our insights into possible ways of interpreting information experience, and its relationship to other concepts in information research and practice, is enhanced. In this chapter, we introduce the idea of information experience. We also outline the book and its chapters, and bring together some emerging alternative views and approaches to this important idea.

In this closing chapter the editors review key themes that have emerged through the book. We recognize the varied and dynamic nature of information experience across multiple contexts, and present our own conceptualization of information experience. Finally, we consider possible future directions for information experience research.

This paper examines the practice of total quality management (TQM) philosophy within companies operating in Ireland. The main objective of this study is to establish whether, or not, TQM philosophy is suitable for adoption by organisations in Ireland. The study is quantitative in nature and is based on the findings of two research questionnaires. Data from the research indicate that TQM activities are practised throughout Irish industry. Many organisations have adopted a TQM approach in a comprehensive manner and are committed to TQM activities for the long term. The majority of respondents indicated that their TQM programmes were successful. This bodes well for the continuance of TQM activities within these organisations. It is concluded that TQM philosophy is suitable for adoption by organisations operating in Ireland and that a TQM approach offers these organisations a platform for developing strategies that guarantee competitiveness and success.

My main point is that the 1920s Chicago School got its scholastic or school-like quality primarily from its notion of what a human being is, from its social psychology, and only secondarily from its sociology. These sociologists developed the novel idea that humans are constituted by symbolic or cultural elements, not biological forces or instincts. They applied Franz Boas's discovery of culture to human nature and the self. In particular, they showed that ethnic groups and their subcultures are not biologically determined or driven by fixed instincts. In the 1910s and 1920s, the Americanization movement held that ethnic groups could be ranked on how intelligent, how criminal, and therefore how fit for democracy they were. This powerful movement, the extreme wing of which was lead by the Northern Ku Klux Klan, advocated different levels of citizenship for different ethnic groups. The Chicago sociologists spear-headed the idea that humans have a universal nature, are all the same ontologically, and therefore all the same morally and legally. In this way, they strengthened the foundations of civil liberties. The Chicago professors advanced their position in a quiet, low-keyed manner, the avoidance of open political controversy being the academic style of the time. Their position was nevertheless quite potent and effective. The actual sociology of the school, also quite important, was largely an expression of the democratic social psychology. In addition, the sociology was dignified and elevated by the moral capital of their theory of human nature.