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Here's how top firms are using portfolio management processes to maximize their projects‘ fit, utility, and balance.

Purpose — This chapter presents research findings in relation to the place of the ability to be mobile in promoting social inclusion.

Approach — A model outlining the relationships between social exclusion, well-being (satisfaction with life), bonding and bridging social capital, sense of community and trips, was explored. The difficulty of measuring complex intangibles in social science was recognised and a number of possible approaches to social capital were examined.

Findings — Despite the different ways of organising the data on social capital, the findings showed the same trends. It was found that the number of trips was important for the relationship between social capital and sense of community on social exclusion and well-being. Bonding and bridging social capital are important for both increasing social inclusion and well-being, both of which are strongly correlated. The number of trips taken by a person acts as a mediating variable to increase bridging social capital and decrease social exclusion. This research illustrates both the complexities and importance of definitions and measurement of social science concepts and the importance of considering their role in transport planning, where their use is new. This research adds a new area of understanding about the role of transport. It moves beyond a narrow view of travel needs and experiences, to the onset of understanding how transport can also facilitate intermediate goals related to social capital and social inclusion and how these social aspects then lead to enhanced well-being.

Firms invest much money in information technology (IT) since IT support has been recognized as a critical enabler of employee outcomes. However, the value obtained by organizations and their employees is not always as much as they anticipated because of, at least partly, a poor relationship between IT staff and users. The purpose of this paper is to apply the social capital theory to examine relationship management between IT and business and explores mechanisms through which social capital between IT staff and users affect users’ employee outcomes, including job satisfaction and job performance.

Based on social capital theory and past literature, the researchers propose a research model and explore the effect of social capital on knowledge sharing, IT users’ perceived service quality, job satisfaction and ultimately job performance. Based on a survey of 289 respondents, this study applies the partial least square technique to test the research model.

Mediation test was performed to explore the effect mechanisms of social capital on employee outcomes, and the results indicate that three dimensions of social capital affect IT users’ job satisfaction and job performance in different approaches.

This study uses social capital theory to direct how to improve the poor relationship between IT staff and users and provides a useful insight into the mechanisms through which three dimensions of social capital improve users’ job satisfaction and job performance.

In this chapter, my aim is to describe and analyse conceptually and provide direction for the identification, selection and use of assistive technologies (ATs) to support the education and development of young children with disabilities. The chapter discusses the quality of early intervention practices and the pragmatic role of ATs in delivering effective early intervention impacts. In making this case, the chapter draws upon Vygotsky's cultural-historical theory to illuminate how ATs can be selected and used effectively in schools to enable all young children to thrive in their learning and development in inclusive classrooms.

The purpose of this article is to extend effectuation theory at the front end by building cognitive foundations for the effectual design process.

We adopt an integrative conceptual approach drawing on design cognition theory to explain entrepreneurial cognition.

We find a significant gap in the entrepreneurial cognition literature with respect to effectuation processes. We thus integrate the Situated Function–Behavior–Structure framework from design theory to elaborate on the cognitive processes of effectuation, specifically with regard to the opportunity development process. This framework describes the cognitive subprocesses by which entrepreneurs means and ends are cyclically (re)formulated over time until a viable “opportunity” emerges, and the venture is formalized, or else, the entrepreneur abandons the venture and exits.”

Unravelling this entrepreneurial design process may facilitate more appropriate and effective design work by entrepreneurs, leading to more successful product designs. It also should facilitate the development of better design techniques and instruction.

This research contributes to new cognitive foundations for effectuation theory and entrepreneurial process research. It better explains how means are transformed into valuable goods over time through an iterative reconsideration of means-ends frameworks. This theoretical elaboration will expectedly facilitate additional research into the iterative cognitive processes of design and enable more formulaic design thinking.

The purpose of this chapter is to present an overview of the status of African American women in academe. The primary context is the Predominately White Institution and the terms African American and Black are used interchangeably. We discuss the silencing of this group of women while privileging others. To date, little has been written on this topic. Much less has been written about the African American females’ struggles in silence, both personally and professionally (Collins, 1986). We end by putting forth strategies that African American women might consider as they soar in leadership roles.

Depending on their institutional context, for new faculty members to successfully manage their transition from doctoral studies to early career, they must show potential as researchers. The purpose of this study was to learn about supports and barriers to researcher development in new faculty members.

The investigators solicited open-ended responses from early career faculty members (N = 49) in an online survey. Content analysis was used to provide an initial categorization of supports and barriers identified by the participants.

Ten barrier categories (e.g. lack of resources, previous training, lack of mentoring, workload) and eight support categories (e.g. effective research collaborations, supportive university environment, funding) were identified.

Findings were framed with a social cognitive conceptual model, which parallels previous studies in doctoral research training environments and research productivity and builds on our knowledge of early career faculty development. The study was limited in terms of number of participants and online response format.

Practical implications to minimize barriers and enhance supports for new faculty researcher development were identified (also drawing from the conceptual model, SCCT).

Thus, the study has value for university policymakers, administrators, faculty peers, research mentors and assistant professors or doctoral students seeking to develop as researchers.

Mathematics can be a challenging content area for all students and especially for students with disabilities. Assistive technology can support the access, participation and achievement of students with disabilities in mathematics in general and in inclusive mathematics settings in particular. In this chapter, assistive technology to academic and functional mathematics will be discussed; particularly, manipulatives, calculators and other technology-mediated mathematics interventions (e.g., apps or computer programs) will be highlighted.

This chapter explores how robots can be used to design science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) learning that is inclusive and engaging for adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The importance of purposefully designed and problematic learning experiences is explored along with an examination of the role and function of meaningful discursive situations and inclusive contexts for learning. The goal of the chapter is to provide a context for readers interested in integrating the use of robots with adolescents with ASD, but it is also of use to those more broadly interested in the use of robots as learning tools. Recommendations for successful use are provided along with a discussion of how to start. This chapter is of interest to K-12 educators and others interested in the use of robots to create opportunities for students to understand the nature of doing STEM in an inclusive environment.

This chapter describes assistive technology (AT) and inclusive education and examines the juncture where AT works to support the inclusion of students with disabilities in mainstream settings, including classrooms, home and community settings. AT consists of a range of devices and services which work to support students to augment existing abilities, compensate for or bypass difficulties they may experience. Some AT has been specifically developed for functional use, while other, particularly emerging technology, can be adapted for, or used, in an assistive capacity. Where the AT promotes social interaction, curriculum access and the ability to express understanding, there is the potential for heightened inclusion in the classroom.