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The aim of this paper is to introduce the special issue of the International Journal of Manpower on capabilities, work and human resource policies and practices. After presenting the main concepts of the capability approach, inspired by Amartya Sen's work, the paper goes on to review the major findings of the contributions to this issue.

Bringing together economists and sociologists, the special issue develops a relevant range of qualitative and quantitative research methods.

The special issue adopts the capability approach as a yardstick to assess corporate policies from the combined perspective of economic and human development. It asks how firms can contribute to developing sustainable human capabilities at work.

Human resource management is mainly oriented towards optimising workers’ labour for the benefit of employers and shareholders. The papers in this issue provide some well‐documented suggestions on how to break with a reductionist understanding of employees as “human capital”, considered from the sole viewpoint of economic efficiency, by introducing a shift in perspective towards an integrated approach, embracing both economic and human development.

As the dimensions of structures are scaled down to the micro‐ and nano‐domains, the mechanical behavior becomes size dependent and thus, the classical elasticity solutions cannot be expected to hold. In particular, recent experimental investigations of fatigue strength of metals show pronounced strengthening due to the influences of both grain size and small geometrical dimensions. This paper aims to provide a simple, yet rigorous analytical model in order to address the aforementioned size effects.

The present study employs a framework based on the type II, strain gradient elasticity theory by Mindlin, embedded into a thermodynamics‐based formulation which considers both mechanical behavior parameters and material lengths, as internal variables, in order to model metal fatigue.

A thermodynamics‐based, second gradient elasto‐plastic formulation with an explicit material length, which captures the size effects in fatigue of small‐scale metal components, has been established. From a physical viewpoint, the evolution of the internal length in the constitutive equations with the evolution of the intrinsic wavelength (e.g. persistent slip bands spacing) can be identified signifying the splitting of the grains into sub‐regions and consequently, the softening of the material.

The major novelty of the proposed modeling is that the internal characteristic length considered is not a fixed parameter, but evolves with the plastic effective strain amplitude obtained from cyclic loading.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how absorptive capacity mediates the relationship between ambidextrous organizational learning and performance among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Based on the resource-based view (RBV) and the dynamic capability approach, this paper uses the resource-capability-performance framework to construct the theoretical model of this study and tests the theoretical model with the questionnaire survey data of 189 SMEs in mainland China.

Ambidextrous organizational learning has different effects on SMEs' performance in terms of survival performance and growth performance. Both exploitative learning and exploratory learning have positive effects on absorptive capacity, and absorptive capacity has positive influences on both the survival performance and growth performance of SMEs. Absorptive capacity plays different mediating roles in the relationships between ambidextrous organizational learning and SMEs' performance: absorptive capacity plays a partial mediating role in the relationship between exploratory learning and SME growth performance, while absorptive capacity plays complete mediating roles in other relationships.

Managers must stress the use of exploratory learning in order to promote SMEs' growth performance. However, to foster both absorptive capacity and SME performance in terms of survival and growth, managers must pay more attention to take advantage of ambidextrous organizational learning. Government as policymakers should create a favorable environment that enable SMEs to benefit much more from the deployment of ambidextrous organizational learning and absorptive capacity.

To the best of authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to theorize and test the mediating role of absorptive capacity in the linkage between ambidextrous organizational learning and SME performance in terms of survival and growth. Additionally, this study also is the first to provide empirical support for the impact of ambidextrous organizational learning on absorptive capacity among SMEs.

The purpose of this paper is to explore in-depth the interface between organisational learning and intrapreneurship. In this way, the paper aims at understanding how these two concepts are interrelated and mutually dependent.

The method employed is qualitative analysis, including multiple exploratory case studies. For data collection, interviews with staff members of the selected companies and analysis of documents were used. Content analysis served as the data processing technique.

The research identifies four dimensions of organisational learning and intrapreneurship in which both concepts are interlinked. Within each of these levels, the most beneficial attitudes and behaviours are highlighted.

This study helps to better understand the dyadic effects between organisational learning and intrapreneurship. Through the dimensions and drivers identified, mechanisms can be developed and implemented leading firms to improve their performance through their employees’ learning and intrapreneurial capacities.

The contribution of this paper is to provide an in-depth view of the interdependence between organisational learning and intrapreneurship. The findings allow development of a new conceptualisation of these concepts and the underlying drivers.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse how company policies and strategies affect career development opportunities.

A longitudinal approach is used, combining quantitative and qualitative data. Panel quantitative data have been used to classify different career paths, and biographical interviews conducted to identify the effects of company policies on these career paths. All the employees interviewed were working in two service organisations in Barcelona (Spain): a retail company and a public transport company.

The results of the analysis show that the combination of new organisational methods, along with the human resource policies developed by the companies, reduces the opportunities for promotion and also actors’ degree of control over transitions. Thus, career development is mainly marked by individual characteristics (educational credentials, age and gender) which are difficult or impossible to transform, and to a much lesser extent by the resources (mostly internal training) companies provide.

The article uses the capability approach as an analytical tool to address three specific company policies: those related to work organisation and working conditions; training; and appraisal and promotion. These policies are placed in a longitudinal perspective as a way of assessing their role in the development of workers’ careers.

How can a qualitative life course approach inform the analysis of the impact of disability policy on individual lives? This contribution puts forward the concept of policy reception in an effort to apply the key principles of a life course perspective to the study of policy impact, a perspective which is of particular relevance in the case of disability policy. Drawing on a broader qualitative study of the reception of disability policy in France, the paper, focusing on the in-depth analysis of two life stories, makes two main contributions. The first is theoretical, putting forward the concept of policy reception to address the missing link between “the state and the life course,” as pointed out by Mayer and Schoepflin (1989). The second is methodological, detailing how biographical interviews, following this life course approach, can be used to operationalize this concept of policy reception. These contributions are illustrated by study results focusing on the reception of disability-related educational policies.

Fragestellung, Vorgehensweise und Ergebnisse in Kurzfassung Die vorliegende Arbeit soll als eine Fallstudie der empirischen Soziologie einen Beitrag zur Erörterung verschiedener sachlicher, theoretischer und methodischer Themen leisten. In sachlicher Hinsicht geht es insbesondere um Fragen der Fremden‐verkehrssoziologie, aber auch der informellen Oekonomie und der Dorf‐ und Landsoziologie. In theoretischer Hinsicht interessieren vor allem Aspekte des sozialen Wandels sowie des Zusammenhangs von regionaler Lebenswelt und sozialem Handeln. Methodisch sollen Möglichkeiten einer qualitativen Sozialforschung erkundet werden.

Einleitung Die 1988 stagnierende Nächtigungszahl zusammen mit der seit Jahren konstant sinkenden durchschnittlichen Aufenthaltsdauer der Kurgäste lässt zwei Vermutungen aufkommen:

Einleitung Auf der Grundlage der Systemkonzeption des Fremdenverkehrs, in der das Subjekt des Fremdenverkehrs das selbständige Subsystem bildet, gelang es uns, die Zufriedenheit des Subjektes des Fremdenverkehrs mit den Grunddienstleistungen des Fremdenverkehrs und mit Erholungsaktivitäten in den Fremdenverkehrszentren zu untersuchen. Es wurden dabei ein paar hundert Inlands‐ und Auslandstouristen untersucht.