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The purpose of this study explores what factors may influence information professionals to adopt new technologies, such as cloud computing in their organizations. The objectives of this study are as follows: to what extent does the technology acceptance model (TAM) explain information professionals intentions towards cloud computing, and to what extent do personal characteristics, such as cognitive appraisal and openness to experience, explain information professionals intentions to use cloud computing.

The research was conducted in Israel during the second semester of the 2013 academic year and encompassed two groups of information professionals: librarians and information specialists. Researchers used seven questionnaires to gather the following data: personal details, computer competence, attitudes to cloud computing, behavioural intention, openness to experience, cognitive appraisal and self-efficacy.

The current study found that the behavioural intention to use cloud computing was impacted by several of the TAM variables, personal characteristics and computer competence.

The study expands the scope of research about the TAM by applying it to information professionals and cloud computing and highlights the importance of individual traits, such as cognitive appraisal, personal innovativeness, openness to experience and computer competence when considering technology acceptance. Further, the current study proposes that if directors of information organizations assume that novel technologies may improve their organizations’ functioning, they should be familiar with both the TAM and the issue of individual differences. These factors may help them choose the most appropriate workers.

The purpose of this study is to identify specific qualifications and competences required within the field of logistics and supply chain management from the perspective of lifelong learning and hierarchical level. It also reveals a hierarchy level-specific job profile for logistics and supply chain management jobs based on the European Framework for Key Competences and the German Federal Employment Agency.

A review of the literature on competences and skills in the field of logistics is combined with an analysis of 832 job postings by means of content analyses and thematic mapping.

The academic literature discusses more than 280 skills and competences related to the job profile of logistics and supply chain managers. The majority of these skills represent social skills. Analyses of job postings show significant differences in the required portfolio of skills and competences depending on the hierarchical level of the position. Contrary to the literature, job postings include more cognitive competences and meta-competences than social skills.

The first contribution of this research is that competences were examined from the perspective of lifelong learning, revealing how this is applied in the field of logistics. The second is that this conceptual framework can be utilised to compare skills and competences between different hierarchical levels. The third contribution refers to identifying a set of skills and competences different to what had been presented in the literature.

The purpose of the present study is to determine levels of computer literacy adequate for searching academic information from electronic resources and databases. The study also examines whether or not student demographics influence this level of computer literacy in a university scenario in India, a developing nation.

The primary data were collected through a questionnaire-based survey on a sample of 329 respondents from three major universities located in North India. The study focused on only postgraduate students and research scholars. The data, thus collected, were analyzed with the aid of the SPSS statistical software package. χ2 test was also applied to determine significant comparability among student demographics and their acquired computer usage competencies.

The study discovered that among the respondents less than half reported that they had acquired adequate computer competence to search for information from electronic resources or databases. However, no significant differences were found for computer skills with respect to students having different demographic characteristics. There were observed significant differences among academic majors and the use of internet and OPAC. Significant differences were also observable between academic use of internet and students varying age groups.

This study is one of the few research studies carried out to examine computer literacy among university students especially in relation to their demographics. The results of the study will prove useful for improving computer literacy in university library systems in India and other developing nations.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the potential of already existing skills and competence ontologies to benefit European transparency tools and especially the implementation of the European Qualification Framework. Furthermore, it asks whether any of them could serve as a starting point to develop an International Standard Classification of Skills and Competences to supplement ISCED and ISCO.

This contribution contains a comparative analyses of three systems providing ontologies of skills and competences – DISCO, O*NET and Taxonomy_DB – under terminological and pragmatic aspects.

The analysis identifies O*NET as the most promising candidate to serve European transparency instruments and the EQF. Furthermore, it demonstrates that the development of an International Standard Classification of Skills and Competences, that is suitable for statistical purposes as well as appropriate for practical applications in human resource management and in the area of education, would have to integrate very diverging demands, which so far are being best met by O*NET and DISCO.

The depth of the analysis is not sufficient to serve as an exhaustive guideline to design an International Standard Classification of Skills and Competences.

The paper shows the potential of a future International Standard Classification of Skills and Competences for the EQF, for European transparency tools, and for statistical purposes.

This article brings a new topic, namely ontologies for skills and competences, into the European debate about competences and their visibility and validation.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the case of a leading Italian aerospace company which developed an integrated system aimed to optimize the management of engineering competencies within the Chief Technical Office function.

The paper was based on a set of interviews to company referents and a one‐year period of researcher's observation at the company site to analyze competence management processes and the application on the field of the methodology and the tool. The approach adopted is to present a real practice following a pragmatic and illustrative approach.

The integrated system provides an objective method to support critical evaluations related to the management of competencies and actors. The benefits achieved derive from a more effective and efficient monitoring of competencies available to perform given activities, and from the analysis of gaps, actor allocation, and job‐rotation issues.

The application of the method and the tool is still quite “dependent” from the skills of their developers. Besides, the activities and competencies of those units which support new product development processes should be also integrated in the system.

The case described can be a useful benchmark for organizations working in complex industries in the effort of improving the performance of engineering activities through an enhanced management of knowledge about people potential and expertise.

The value of the paper may stay in a twofold process/project and people management perspective in the monitoring, development, and scouting of technical competencies.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the technology confidence, skills, and post-skills-test emotions in traditional (younger than 24 years old) and non-traditional (24 and older) first-year college students at three undergraduate campuses in the Northeastern USA.

Totally, 39 college freshmen from three college campuses were recruited for the study. An online test environment and screen recording software were used to measure student proficiency in using PDFs, Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Excel, Gmail, and Windows. Data were collected in September 2013.

The majority of the students struggled with at least one facet of academic software. Traditional students were more confident than non-traditional students in their technology skills, but they did not score any higher on the skills test. Students who placed at the high end and low end of the test results curve most accurately assessed their technology skills, and their post-test feelings were the most appropriate in light of their test results. A large percentage of the traditional aged students were overconfident about their skills and self-identified as “happy” or “wonderful” even after performing poorly on the test.

Having concrete data about student technology skills, rather than anecdotal data from Reference Desk interactions, can help librarians design improved instruction and tutorials that target areas of student technology weakness. In addition, there have been no studies that examine student immediate emotional response to test performance in this type of testing environment.

This paper seeks to discuss the need for development and conceptualization of the learning outcomes and competences approach in creating information science curricula.

An analytical approach to the theoretical insights and the results of previous and current empirical research projects was taken together with the detailed analysis of the Department of Information Sciences, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb program in order to prove the necessity of the educational approach based on competences and learning outcomes.

Learning outcomes should be the ultimate goal to be achieved by the teaching staff and students through the educational process. It is necessary that the learning outcomes approach along with the necessity for specific outcomes and competences should be determined by the university teachers on a conceptual as well as an implemental level. Competences that information sciences students are expected to attain (defined by the criterion of employability) have been determined in a way which should facilitate their later employment and enable them to compete in the labour market. At the same time, this kind of approach contributes to the preservation as well as to the prestige of the profession/discipline.

The paper presents a new approach to LIS curriculum through defining a framework of competencies based on learning outcomes.

Criminals have always exploited technological advances and therefore the advent of the gun, the telephone and the car created new opportunities for crime. Similarly, the increasingly widespread use of computers in society has led to computer‐related crime.

This paper aims to examine the joint effect of power and gender on individuals’ perceptions and evaluations of information systems (IS), and their behavioral intentions of technology acceptance.

This study uses a 2 (powerful vs powerless) × 2 (female vs male) between-subject experimental design. A total of 128 subjects participated in the experiment.

The results suggest that there is a significant gender difference in terms of technology acceptance in the high-power condition. Further, such a gender difference is attenuated in the low-power condition. Specifically, when primed with the feeling of powerful, male users (vs female users) have higher computer self-efficacy and rate the IS as easier to use and more enjoyable. However, when the feeling of powerless was elicited, the effect of gender on technology acceptance disappeared.

The gender effect on technology acceptance has been widely studied. The current research extends the literature by considering the moderating effect of power on such a gender effect.

To develop a testable model for girls' career choices in technology fields based on past research and hypotheses about the future of the information technology (IT) workforce.

Review and assimilation of literature from education, psychology, sociology, computer science, IT, and business in a model that identifies factors that can potentially influence a girl's choice towards or against IT careers. The factors are categorized into social factors (family, peers, and media), structural factors (computer use, teacher/counselor influence, same sex versus coeducational schools), and individual differences. The impact of culture on these various factors is also explored.

The model indicates that parents, particularly fathers, are the key influencers of girls' choice of IT careers. Teachers and counselors provide little or no career direction. Hypotheses propose that early access to computers may reduce intimidation with technology and that same‐sex education may serve to reduce career bias against IT.

While the model is multidisciplinary, much of research from which it draws is five to eight years old. Patterns of career choices, availability of technology, increased independence of women and girls, offshore/nearshore outsourcings of IT jobs are just some of the factors that may be insufficiently addressed in this study.

A “Recommendations” section provides some practical steps to increase the involvement of girls in IT‐related careers and activities at an early age. The article identifies cultural research as a limitation and ways to address this.

The paper is an assimilation of literature from diverse fields and provides a testable model for research on gender and IT.