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This study aims to explore how source type can influence organizational assets proposed by source credibility theory (SCT) when paired with matched situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) strategies for accidental, preventable, and victim crises. Crisis communication delivered online provides an invaluable outlet for organizations to disperse information to stakeholders quickly. It has been shown that receivers of this information have motivational assumptions about sources having their own agenda for producing content. Thus, it is important to explore how sources tasked with delivering crisis responses can influence perceptions of the sincerity and credibility of the message.

The researchers conducted a 3 (crisis response: matched accidental, matched preventable, matched victim) × 3 (source type: organization, CEO, The New York Times) online between-subjects experimental design (N = 623).

By identifying how the source disseminating crisis responses influences message perceptions, findings from this study recognize how the crisis response is situated in a greater context. Since perceived sincerity and credibility were found to influence message acceptance and reputation, making intentional decisions that acknowledge both within a crisis communication strategy may benefit both future practice and research applications.

The current study advances understandings afforded by SCCT, along with SCT, by experimentally testing the influence of these variables within crisis responses on outcomes such as account acceptance and organizational reputation.

A distinguishing feature of strategic human resource management research is an emphasis on human resource (HR) systems, rather than individual HR practices as a driver of individual and organizational performance. Yet, there remains a lack of agreement regarding what these systems are, which practices comprise these systems, how these systems operate, and how they should be studied. Our goal in this paper is to take a step toward identifying and addressing several conceptual and methodological issues regarding HR systems. Conceptually, we argue that HR systems should be targeted toward some strategic objective and operate by influencing (1) employee knowledge, skills, and abilities, (2) employee motivation and effort, and (3) opportunities for employees to contribute. Methodologically, we explore issues related to the relationships among policies and practices, sampling issues, identifying the appropriate referent group(s), and who should serve as key informants for HR system studies.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether female workers’ years of education do mediate the influence of gender diversity on innovative capability of enterprises in Nigeria.

The study uses three waves Nigeria Enterprise Surveys panel dataset collected in 2007, 2009 and 2014, for a sample of 1,566 enterprises to circumvent the problems associated with application of cross-sectional designs in mediation studies. The study applies Hicks and Tingley’s (2011) two equations mediation analysis approach with robust standard error.

The results of the inferential analysis indicate that female workers’ years of education mediate fully and positively the effect of gender diversity on innovative capability of enterprises in Nigeria.

For gender diversity to enhance the innovative capability of an enterprise, female workers must be empowered with higher levels of formal education.

Female workers should be empowered with formal education in order to enhance the ability of firms to innovate. Gender diversity alone does not enhance the innovative capability of an enterprise without empowering female workers with formal education.

Although past studies do provide substantial evidence on the positive relationship between gender diversity and the innovative capability of enterprises, the mediating effect of education on this relationship has been ignored. This is particularly relevant in a country such as Nigeria with low levels of innovation. Furthermore, despite the presumed positive effect of gender diversity on innovative capability, existing empirical research does not yield consistent findings to clearly resolve how or why gender diversity does affect the innovative capability of enterprises. This paper tests whether it could be the result of a mediating (intervening) variable.

This commentary focuses on S. A. McComb's chapter on the process of mental model convergence and provides guidance for advancing this research stream. McComb's chapter highlights many of the theoretical and methodological challenges that have plagued the study of cognition in teams. This commentary addresses those challenges and offers suggestions for the next steps in this field. Specifically, it considers the complex and abstract nature of team cognition and offers an elaborated model for understanding cognitive similarity that includes cognitive similarity configurations.

Work-related low back disorders (LBDs) are prevalent among rebar workers although their causes remain uncertain. The purpose of this study is to examine the self-reported discomfort and spinal biomechanics (muscle activity and spinal kinematics) experienced by rebar workers.

In all, 20 healthy male participants performed simulated repetitive rebar lifting tasks with three different lifting weights, using either a stoop (n = 10) or a squat (n = 10) lifting posture, until subjective fatigue was reached. During these tasks, trunk muscle activity and spinal kinematics were recorded using surface electromyography and motion sensors, respectively.

A mixed-model, repeated measures analysis of variance revealed that an increase in lifting weight significantly increased lower back muscle activity at L3 level but decreased fatigue and time to fatigue (endurance time) (p < 0.05). Lifting postures had no significant effect on spinal biomechanics (p < 0.05). Test results revealed that lifting different weights causes disproportional loading upon muscles, which shortens the time to reach working endurance and increases the risk of developing LBDs among rebar workers.

Future research is required to: broaden the research scope to include other trades; investigate the effects of using assistive lifting devices to reduce manual handling risks posed; and develop automated human condition-based solutions to monitor trunk muscle activity and spinal kinematics.

This study fulfils an identified need to study laboratory-based simulated task conducted to investigate the risk of developing LBDs among rebar workers primarily caused by repetitive rebar lifting.

This paper uses systems theory to clarify the crucial point that there is a basic, inborn, bodily motivation, and that a social theory of the self cannot simply be a theory of process. By bridging across current neuroscience, cognitive science, and systems theory, I propose a self that is fundamentally emotional energy seeking. There are other bodily needs (food, drink, etc), but these satiate quickly, and although they can override everything else at moments when they are low, they are not the central switching mechanism, the top of the hierarchy in the subsumption architecture of the self. Basing the formation and ongoing processes of the self in the motive to maximize emotional energy can explain the seeming conflict between tendencies towards self-consistency and the potential for creativity and change. It also allows us to detail the mechanisms that underlie the process of individuals drawing on culture as a resource and in turn diffusing new symbols and meanings into the larger culture.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the differences in the values and behaviours of employees and entrepreneurs and to develop guidelines for employers to foster entrepreneurial thinking in their organisations.

To determine individual behaviours, the authors used the career adaptability scale developed by Savickas and Porfelli (2012), complemented with the statements regarding relationships in the workplace and reward, designed by Gattiker and Larwood (1986). The individual values were evaluated by Schwartz’s individual value framework. The career success of individuals was defined by income level and job satisfaction. Data from a sample of 473 respondents were analysed using structural equation modelling.

This paper reveals that there are differences in the behaviours and the values of employees and entrepreneurs. Employees are more concerned with relationships at the workplace, rewards and confidence, whereas entrepreneurs focus solely on relationships. Self-direction value has a direct positive impact. Universalism, conformism, achievement, stimulation and safety have indirect positive effects on career success for employees. There is no specific individual value driving career success for entrepreneurs.

This paper follows the recent trends in organisational culture development whereby organisations seek to incorporate the entrepreneurial mindset at all levels of the organisation. Until now, there has been scarce empirical evidence on the differences between entrepreneurial and employee values. This research provides evidence that the value gap between these two distinct groups is considerable enough to question the ability of the average employee to adopt the entrepreneurial behaviour required by modern organisations.

Inclusive education is about creating beneficial environments for all students (Booth & Ainscow, 2011). Within Germany, the role of special education within inclusive schools has been widely discussed (Powell et al., 2016). Educators worldwide consider collaborative teaching between special educators and general educators to be a fundamental precondition for inclusive education (Hoppey & McLeskey, 2014).

The history of the German school system, however, is characterized by a rigorous division of special and regular schools that is reflective of broad divisions in teacher education. Since the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in Germany in 2009, more students with special educational needs, as well as special educators, have begun to attend and work in inclusive schools. While cooperation between general and special educators is a key to the development of inclusive schools, many teachers report that responsibilities are divided between special and general teachers, while various challenges exist regarding cooperation (Urban & Lütje-Klose, 2014). Nevertheless, dysfunctional cooperation can foster mechanisms of separation and exclusion even in “inclusive” settings (Idel et al., 2019).

The present chapter offers a reflection on the different roles of special educators and the current state of research on interdisciplinary and multiprofessional cooperation in inclusive schools in Germany. It also provides a discussion of relevant implications for the development of inclusive schools and teacher training.