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We review the literature on individual acceptance of technology to show how organizations can improve the effective use of human resource web-based technologies. Integrating and expanding several theoretical models of technology acceptance, we develop a perceptual model of employee self-service (ESS) acceptance and usage. Based on this model, we propose several key individual, technological, and organizational factors relevant to individual intentions to use ESS technology. We summarize these in several testable propositions and also discuss implications for organizational researchers and practitioners.

This study enriches the theory of effectuation by discussing the four independent dimensions of effectuation and their relationships with causation. Additionally, we fill the gap in prior literature by showing how entrepreneurial experience moderates the relationship between effectuation and innovativeness of the venture. Our study of 171 practising entrepreneurs regarding their entrepreneurial decision-making logic yielded multiple findings. The authors find that entrepreneurs rely on causation as well as effectuation in their decision-making; the more experienced entrepreneurs are, the more they actually use causation; and entrepreneurial experience moderates the relationship between effectuation and innovativeness of the venture firm.

Immigrants are important contributors to workplaces, but HRM scholars have only recently begun to study them systematically. We document the prevalence and cross-national variation in populations of immigrant employees. Going beyond a treatment that considers them as another element of diversity, we propose how gradients of status at each level of country, organization, and work group admittance can result in unique outcomes for immigrants who are equally (dis)similar. We offer a taxonomy of immigrant pathways into their destination countries to explore the status hierarchies they are assigned by governments and reinforced by organizations. We provide insights into the ascribed status of immigrants and develop a typology of individual and organizational acculturation strategies based on the cultural tightness and looseness of the destination and origin cultures. We then describe how the reactions of members of an immigrant employee’s social environment are sensitive to ascribed status and cultural tightness-looseness. We do so in a three-stage process that begins with immigrant categorization, followed by conferral of (il)legitimacy, and finally brought together with perceptions of outcome interdependence. Finally, we offer ideas about HRM interventions to guide management scholars in their quest for understanding and improve the experiences of immigrants in the workplace.

The aim of the chapter is a comparative analysis of the level of labour market security in four countries representing different social models: the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland and Ukraine. For this purpose, Eurostat, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), European Social Survey (ESS) and European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS) data were used. They allowed to show significant differences which occurred in 2004–2017 in the situation of the employees in the analysed countries. The analysis showed that employees in both the United Kingdom and Germany are characterised by a relatively high level of labour market security, but such security is provided in two different ways – in the former country employment security is more important, while job security prevails in the latter. Despite a significant improvement in employment conditions in Poland and Ukraine, the objective and subjective situation of employees there remains much worse than is the case in Germany and the United Kingdom. All the differences between the studied countries confirm the thesis regarding the flows of migrant workers seeking a satisfactory level of labour market security.

The purpose of this paper is to examine early sociological research on the experience of non-impaired siblings in families of children with disabilities for evidence of an approach consistent with aspects of the social model of disability.

Due to the historical nature of this special issue, this work examines research published over a 30-year period beginning with the 1960s and ending with the late 1980s. After an extensive literature search, a mixture of 51 quantitative and qualitative studies on the sibling experience was included in the sample.

Findings indicate that while the focus of much of the early research on the non-impaired sibling experience was on the negative impact of having a sibling with impairments, there were some exceptions in early sociological studies that highlighted the impact of structural barriers and cultural attitudes on sibling adjustment. In particular, results of early studies showed that the transmission of inclusionary attitudes within the family unit can improve the lives of siblings.

The chapter focuses on how higher education (HE) influences the construction of social trust. Social trust is defined as one of the most important subjective aspect of people’s well-being. The analysis refers to impersonal trust and institutional trust, and uses various indicators for measuring the two, such as generalized trust, generalized fairness, trust in parliament, and trust in the legal system. The study covers 19 European countries and explores the problem at both aggregate and individual level. It draws on data from the European Social Survey (2006–2010), applying descriptive statistics and multilevel modeling for the analysis of data. The chapter argues that the higher the educational level of people is, the more trustful they are. Our findings clearly show that, at the individual level, HE influences positively the degrees of both impersonal and institutional trust. The results also suggest that the relationship between HE and trust differs substantially across European countries. As regards impersonal trust, the impact of HE is stronger in countries where people without HE have lower average levels of impersonal trust. However, with respect to institutional trust, HE tends to have a strong positive impact in countries with high levels of institutional trust among people without HE. Furthermore, both impersonal and institutional trust among HE graduates is greater in countries with full democracy than in those with a flawed democracy. This fact raises once again the question whether social trust is a characteristic of individuals or of social systems.

Parents and children can drive each other mad. At one moment, a parent may be encouraging and affectionate toward the child; in the next, the parent may be sending the child to his or her bedroom. Similarly, a child who seems helpful and cooperative can suddenly turn belligerent. Parents and children may partly resolve the mixture of negative and positive feelings they experience in such situations by remembering their basic love for each other. Nevertheless, the conflicting sentiments will be stored in the memory of both parties, contributing to a long-lasting melange of conflicting beliefs, feelings, and behaviors. What are the psychological consequences of this state of affairs in relationships?

Although improving, students with learning disabilities (LD) still do not experience positive postsecondary outcomes at the same rate as their nondisabled peers. Research indicates that inclusion in the general education classroom for core content courses correlates to better outcomes; however, the large amount of content to be covered in these courses makes it difficult to deliver targeted transition services, such as instruction in self-determination skills, in these settings. In this chapter, we briefly summarize the research on transition services for students with LD and then provide examples of opportunities for instruction and practice of self-determination skills in the general education classroom.

Citizens are substantial stakeholders in every e-government system, thus their willingness to use and ability to access the system are critical. Unequal access and information and communication technology usage, which is known as digital divide, however has been identified as one of the major obstacles to the implementation of e-government system. As digital divide inhibits citizen’s acceptance to e-government, it should be overcome despite the lack of deep theoretical understanding on this issue. This research aimed to investigate the digital divide and its direct impact on e-government system success of local governments in Indonesia as well as indirect impact through the mediation role of trust. In order to get a comprehensive understanding of digital divide, this study introduced a new type of digital divide, the innovativeness divide.

The research problems were approached by applying two-stage sequential mixed method research approach comprising of both qualitative and quantitative studies. In the first phase, an initial research model was proposed based on a literature review. Semi-structured interview with 12 users of e-government systems was then conducted to explore and enhance this initial research model. Data collected in this phase were analyzed with a two-stage content analysis approach and the initial model was then amended based on the findings. As a result, a comprehensive research model with 16 hypotheses was proposed for examination in the second phase.

In the second phase, quantitative method was applied. A questionnaire was developed based on findings in the first phase. A pilot study was conducted to refine the questionnaire, which was then distributed in a national survey resulting in 237 useable responses. Data collected in this phase were analyzed using Partial Least Square based Structural Equation Modeling.

The results of quantitative analysis confirmed 13 hypotheses. All direct influences of the variables of digital divide on e-government system success were supported. The mediating effects of trust in e-government in the relationship between capability divide and e-government system success as well as in the relationship between innovativeness divide and e-government system success were supported, but was rejected in the relationship between access divide and e-government system success. Furthermore, the results supported the moderating effects of demographic variables of age, residential place, and education.

This research has both theoretical and practical contributions. The study contributes to the developments of literature on digital divide and e-government by providing a more comprehensive framework, and also to the implementation of e-government by local governments and the improvement of e-government Readiness Index of Indonesia.

This chapter reviews research on math disabilities (MD) from two different points of view: Italian and American. Our goal is to gain consensus on identifying the cognitive deficits that underlie problems associated with MD as well as to provide an overview of some of the instructional approaches to remediate these deficits. The review outlines similarities and differences in the research perspectives between the two countries. Although the results show some consensus on the identification of MD and the cognitive mechanisms associated with this deficit (e.g., working memory), some differences remain between the two research perspectives (e.g., incidence of MD).