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This study aims to examine the imagining of libraries and the depiction of library services in contemporary science fiction novels. Analyses of libraries in contemporary science fiction may reveal expectations of libraries and the roles they play in future societies. These may, in turn, be used by the library profession to innovate and to discover opportunities to design and improve library services that meet the expectations of library users now and in the future.

This research applied a content analysis approach to examine references to libraries in a purposeful sample of science fiction novels published between 2009 and 2019. The sample consists of 29 novels selected from the 2010–2020 winners of the Hugo Award for Best Novel, The Nebula Award for Best Novel, the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, The Philip K Dick Award and the Arthur C Clarke Award.

This research finds that libraries are a common feature within contemporary science fiction novels, primarily as part of the background setting of the narratives. Libraries are particularly common in peri-apocalyptic novels, often as “reinvented” libraries. This research identifies considerable differences in the way libraries and information access and use are depicted and documented in science fiction worlds of plenty, compared to those of scarcity. Other key themes discussed include freedom of access to information, and the supposedly common negative stereotyping of libraries.

Existing literature indicates anxiety about the future of libraries which the findings of this research do not support. The insights gained suggested instead, the emergence of an image of libraries as being embedded in the fabric of societies. This indicates the expectation of the place and role of libraries in contemporary societies. Libraries and their services must be adeptly placed and woven into the many facets of the societies they serve.

Job market shifts, such as workforce mobility and aging societies, cause the exit of knowledgeable personnel from organizations. The ensuing knowledge loss (K-loss) has broad negative effects. This study analyzes the knowledge management literature on K-loss published from 2000 to 2021 and identifies fruitful directions for future research.

The authors conduct a systematic literature review of 74 peer-reviewed articles published between 2000 and 2021. These articles were retrieved from ProQuest Central, Science Direct, EBSCOhost and Emerald databases. The analysis utilizes Jesson et al.’s (2011) six principles: field mapping, comprehensive search, quality assessment, data extraction, synthesis and write-up.

Three sub-topics emerge from the systematic literature review: K-loss drivers, positive and negative impacts of K-loss and mitigation strategies. Over half of the literature addresses mitigation strategies and provides solutions for K-loss already in progress, rather than proposing preventive measures.

This study has limitations related to the time span covered. Moreover, it focuses on articles published in refereed journals. Therefore, important contributions from conference papers, books and professional reports were excluded.

This research comprehensively synthesizes the K-loss literature and proposes future avenues of research to address under-investigated areas and potentially lead to theoretical and empirical advancements in the field. This study also provides suggestions for improving managerial practices.

Over the past few decades, university reforms in line with management and enterprise ideals have been well documented. Changes in the ideals underlying the missions of universities have led to changes in their modes of governing and organizing, which in turn drive further transformation of their missions. One set of reforms in Swedish higher education has been the dissolution of collegial bodies and procedures. At the same time, in recent years, we have witnessed an increased interest in collegiality and a reintroduction of collegial bodies and procedures. New translations of collegiality appear not only in how universities are organized, but also in other core aspects of research and higher education. We review examples of peer reviewing, research assessment, and direct recruitment of professors and ask: Can these new translations of collegiality be understood as a revitalization of collegiality, or is it – to draw a parallel with greenwashing – rather a matter of collegiality-washing?

This study aims to examine the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and firm value (FV) with the moderating role of the organizational life cycle (OLC).

To fill the missing link of the CSR–FV relationship in the life cycle of the firms, this study divided the firm life cycle into five stages and tested the impact of FV on CSR in each phase. This study uses the ordinary least squares, generalized method of moments method with the dynamic panel data model of 225 Vietnamese listed companies for the period from 2014 to 2018.

This study’s findings confirm the positive effect of CSR on FV. Besides, in most of the stages of the firm life cycle, FV positively affects CSR practices, and this effect is highest in the growth stage. In the decline phase, the relationship between FV and CSR is complex depending on the resources and ability of companies. This study’s results are trusted through many robustness tests.

This research does not include all financial, insurance and investment firms to measure the CSR–FV relationship with OLC as moderating role. Further research might conduct in the larger sample or using data in cross countries enhance the evidence for the given relationship.

This research contributes empirical evidence to the scientific literature on CSR, FV and OLC, which would be tremendously helpful for policymakers and business owners to enhance company efficiency.

The relationship between variation in time perspectives and collaborative performance is scarcely explored, and even less is known about the respective mechanisms that lead to varying task performance. Thus, we aim to further the literature on time perspectives and collaborative performance, shedding light on the underlying behavioral patterns.

We report a quasi-experiment analyzing the impact of past, present and future orientation variation in dyads (N = 76) on their quantitative and qualitative performance when confronted with a simple incentivized creative task with constraints. Subsequently, we offer a qualitative analysis of comments given by the participants after the task on the collaboration.

Results indicate that a dyad's elevation of past orientation and diversity in future orientation negatively affect collaborative performance. At the same time, there is a positive effect of elevation of future orientation. The positive effect is driven by clear communication and agreement during the task, while the negative effect arises from work sharing and complementation.

This study provides insights for organizations on composing individuals regarding their temporal focus for collaborative tasks that should be executed rapidly and require creative solutions.

Our study distinguishes by considering the composition of past, present and future time perspectives in dyads and focuses on a creative task setting. Moreover, we explore the mechanisms in the dyads with a substantial elevation of/diversity in future orientation, leading to their stronger/weaker performance.

In the new post-COVID-19 work order, this study aims to examine whether and how individual-level social distancing interacts with workgroup-level socio-affective support to influence employee exhaustion and performance.

Multi-level analyses of time-lagged multi-source data from 231 employees nested in 34 workgroups were conducted to test our hypothesized relationships.

Analyses revealed a significant relationship between social distancing and employee performance via emotional exhaustion. Further, the positive relationship between social distancing and emotional exhaustion was attenuated by workgroup team orientation and support for innovation, and the indirect effect of social distancing on employee performance was weaker in workgroups with a high team orientation and high support for innovation.

This study extends the job demands-resources theory to the new work order and examines the impact of workplace social distancing on employee outcomes in the context of workgroup membership.

The purpose of this study is to identify the association between environmental leadership (EL) and pro-environmental behaviour among the middle-level employees in iron and steel manufacturing companies. The study further emphasizes on mediation of the relationship by green rewards and green self-efficacy in EL and pro-environmental behaviour relationship, moderated by green training.

To find the reliability and validity of the model, confirmatory factor analysis was used. Pearson correlation was used to explore the relationship between variables. PROCESS macro of Hayes (2013) Model 14 was used to test mediation and moderated mediation.

EL influenced pro-environmental behaviour in middle-level employees. Green rewards and green self-efficacy mediated the relationship. Green training moderated the mediated relationship of green rewards and green self-efficacy between EL and pro-environmental behaviour.

This is a fresh contribution around EL and pro-environmental behaviour in iron and steel companies; however, there are studies available on this relationship, but the unique contribution of the study is studying EL in iron and steel companies and mediated moderated relationship by green rewards, self-efficacy and training. It is necessary for the organizations to develop environmental leaders to promote pro-environmental behaviour in employees across sectors.

How to depict conflict characteristics? Previous literature has overwhelmingly used intensity and frequency of conflict, resulting in an incomplete understanding of conflict itself and its impacts. To fill this knowledge gap, this paper aims to develop a comprehensive theoretical framework for conflict attributes.

Through a systematic and integrative literature review, this study has achieved the objectives by synthesizing the current state of knowledge on conflict and borrowing insights from event system theory.

A total of 16 conflict attributes were identified to constitute the event-oriented conceptualization of conflict, describing conflict from three dimensions – strength, time and space. Four promising areas for future conflict inquiry are proposed: linking the effectiveness of conflict to its attributes; exploring the interplay and configuration of multiple conflict attributes; progressing from variance- to process-oriented conflict theories; and developing symmetric/asymmetric views of conflict.

This paper conceptually clarifies conflict attributes from the event perspective and offers a nuanced understanding of conflict, which contributes to the current fragmented knowledge of conflict attributes. Scholars can build on this study’s findings to fill gaps and move conflict research forward. It also enhances researchers’ awareness of time and space and thus encourages more longitudinal exploration into the dynamics of conflict.

Due to the absence of industry and region-specific implementation guides, change efforts, in particular continuous improvement implementations, continue to report high failure rates. The purpose of this paper is, therefore, to present a finalised implementation framework specifically tailored for manufacturing companies.

A conceptual framework derived from the existing literature is validated, through a Delphi study, by an expert panel to review its content and suitability for a practical application.

This paper proposes a finalised framework tailored to the practical needs of users. The results of the Delphi approach offer a phased implementation framework that provides an overview of the implementation process of continuous improvement initiatives and the key activities involved. The framework is suitable for use by both business leaders and continuous improvement practitioners with varying degrees of previous implementation experience.

The research was carried out in the UK and is specifically focused on the manufacturing industry. It is therefore not clear the applicability of the framework presented to other regions and industries. The framework, although validated through several phases of research, still requires practical application and testing.

Business leaders and continuous improvement practitioners will benefit from having the necessary content presented in a manner that will promote its practical application. It has also been demonstrated that the framework is robust in its content, incorporating the literature findings as well as the experience of an expert panel encompassing 20 people.

This study aims to define and measure the capabilities applied by firms to waste-related patents and their relations with the businesses economic performance to support decision-making towards a circular economy (CE).

A model of cause-and-effect relationships between firms' waste-related patents and the firm' capabilities was defined within the dynamic capabilities' theoretical framework. Empirical results were obtained by applying partial least squares structural equation modelling to a sample of 2,216 Spanish firms that hold 120,406 patents.

Results revealed the importance of the innovation capabilities of firms related to patenting, such as collaborative innovation, persistence in patenting or the capabilities to collaborate with research institutes, as drivers of level of waste patents to improve the businesses economic performance.

The systemic nature of the CE at the firm level suggests future research focused on the environmental divergence that appears when the innovation on waste fall outside the regular domain of its industry. Another topic to be investigated is related to the full text of patents that could improve the results of this study.

The definition of indicators to measure investments in the CE is complex, but it is necessary to assess progress in the closing of material loops at a micro level and to report the investments in waste-related patents in a circular model to the stakeholders involved in the economic management of the company.

Measuring CE-related patents and the specific capabilities needed for patenting in a circular framework is an understudied topic, and this study opens a specific line of inquiry enhancing the knowledge of CE within the dynamic capabilities' theoretical framework.