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The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumers' motivation to accumulate obsolete items and their reluctance to dispose of material possessions.

The role of attachment to material possession in the construction of consumer identity provides a conceptual framework for the research. A video‐ethnography with eight individuals, who classify themselves as functional hoarders, individuals who accumulate objects privately and are unable to dispose without clear conscious motivation or control, constitute the primary data for this paper.

In investigating the underlying reasons for accumulating objects and resisting dispossession, informants show evidence of being reflective consumers who perceive throwing away as a threat to memory, to security, and to historical and ecological preservation. First, this paper confirms current literature regarding the role of possessions as symbols of interpersonal ties with others and as a cue to past experiences. Second, the paper supports that possessions provide a sense of security to the owner. Finally, this paper reinforces that preserving material objects cultivate a vision for the future. Ultimately, informants' motivations to accumulate, to keep, and to not‐dispose of objects reflects a desire to reassemble the fragments of their temporal experience into a unique space where memories, present, and life projects join together.

The accompanying film gives an opportunity for audience members to personally evaluate hoarding practices and to draw their own conclusion on the dynamic nature of material attachment and consumer identity in terms of past experiences, present orientation, and responsibility for the future.

Agency theory suggests that firms with very high cash balances (“cash hoarders”) are likely to misinvest their funds. However, if investors do not fully recognize the implications of a high cash balance, then future returns may be predictable for cash-hoarding firms. We find that cash hoarders significantly underperform over the two years following their identification as hoarding. In subsequent analysis, we find that returns are significantly negative in the year that a prior cash-hoarding firm reports a significant decrease in cash. Our results suggest that investors do not fully appreciate the implications of a high cash balance for future returns, but do recognize problems when that cash is subsequently spent.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how well Chinese teacher education positions itself in preparing qualified teachers for its vast K‐12 education system, especially in the transition from examination‐oriented to future‐oriented examination.

The paper looks at literatures discussing background, strengths and weaknesses of current Chinese teacher‐training programs. It also employs a Delphi‐based scenario research method to explore plausible futures of curriculum design for teacher education.

In order to ensure its astonishing economic development and present itself as a constructive force for world betterment, it is crucial for China to carry on its ongoing educational reform, especially in the area of curriculum for its teacher‐training programs.

The disciplinary curriculum currently employed in Chinese teacher education should be shifted to a trans‐disciplinary curriculum to produce future‐oriented, internationally‐prepared, and ICT‐savvy graduates with the high moral standards the country demands in its effort to play an important role on the international stage.

The research, while meriting the structured instruction displayed by the Chinese education system, argues that the system should strive to provide students with such skills as creativity, flexibility, initiative, leadership, all necessary in the globally connected future world. The second part of the paper will focus on four scenarios as a result of recent research among Chinese educators and administrators.

Most librarians are well known as hoarders of books, periodicals, pamphlets, any material in fact which might be of the slightest value to the users of their libraries. Whenever sufficient space allows, a stack room contains material which is in lesser demand, but even storerooms fill, and that remarkably quickly in these days when national and international agencies compete more and more with the general publisher. Thus the time soon comes when even the most inveterate hoarder has to prune his shelves. In the past he has spent part of his very busy working time producing lists of surplus material, and after much correspondence he has usually been able to dispose of a small part of his unwanted stock. The remainder was often sent for scrap, as only a limited amount of time could be spared for finding suitable locations for it. It can be easily seen that, as far as staff time was concerned, this was an un‐economical method of disposing of duplicates. It was impossible to be sure that even half of the libraries likely to be interested had been approached, and finally a suitable return for the material offered was seldom obtained. With the formation of a national interchange centre, however, all these difficulties have been overcome and a very large amount of material which before had gone to waste has been placed in useful circulation again.

This paper responds to a recent trend towards reifying “knowledge hoarding” for purposes of quantitative/deductive research, via a study of information technology (IT) service professionals. A “rhetorical theory” lens is applied to reconsider “knowledge hoarding” as a value-laden rhetoric that directs managers towards addressing assumed worker dysfunctionality.

A qualitative study of practicing IT service professionals (assumed within IT service management “best practice” to be inclined to hoard knowledge) was conducted over a 34-day period. Twenty workers were closely observed processing IT service incidents, and 26 workers were interviewed about knowledge-sharing practices.

The study found that IT service practice is characterized more by pro-social collegiality in sharing knowledge/know-how than by self-interested strategic knowledge concealment.

The study concerns a single occupational context. The study indicates that deductive research that reifies “knowledge hoarding” as a naturally occurring phenomenon is flawed, with clear implications for future research.

The study suggests that management concern for productivity might be redirected away from addressing assumed knowledge-hoarding behaviour and towards encouraging knowledge sharing via social interaction in the workplace.

Previous studies have not directly examined the concept of knowledge hoarding using qualitative methods, nor have they considered it as a rhetorical device.

Because consumers can vary greatly in the nature of their relationship with a service provider, it is reasonable to expect that a wide range of different values may influence consumption behavior. Additionally, consumers’ values composition may predispose them to interpret their relationships with service providers differently and those service providers’ marketing communications. The present study explores the range of values which motivate business consumers’ reactions to service providers, specifically airlines’ frequent flyer programs. As part of this process, consumers are segmented in terms of their values and relationships with airlines in order to better understand the motives and behavior that drive choice of service providers. Based on the results, specific communications strategies are offered for each of the identified segments that address the desired benefits sought by each value segment.

This study aims to analyze the relationship between workplace ostracism and knowledge hoarding. The study also proposes a mediational role of organizational climate in the relationship between workplace ostracism and knowledge hoarding.

The procedure used in the study is a systematic literature review covering workplace ostracism, knowledge hoarding and organizational climate from 1986 to 2021. The studies were explored using keyword searches such as “Workplace ostracism”, “Knowledge hoarding” and “Organizational climate” from the selected databases, namely, Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar.

The systematic review of 146 articles found most studies suggesting that workplace ostracism affects employees’ personal and professional relationships and is a precursor to knowledge hoarding behaviours. The workplace ostracism–knowledge hoarding relationship has a logical explanation as knowledge hoarding is often perceived as counter-normative, which can reduce the performance of a hoarder, leading to behaviours such as ostracism and expulsion. The review proposes that organizational climate plays a significant role in improving the workplace ostracism and knowledge hoarding relationship. The study introduces some fundamental propositions towards the development of a model for future research.

The study attempts to uncover a series of relationships between workplace ostracism, knowledge hoarding and organizational climate, which may enhance academic discussion and offer clarity to the conceptualization of these two fields.

The purpose of this paper is to report on findings from an evaluative research study which looked at a timed intervention model of practice comprising of up to 24 weeks of intensive meetings with adult service users set up by one local authority in England, to prevent and delay the need for care and support. A particular focus of this paper is on adults who hoard.

The study employed a mixed-methods design, consisting of interviews with service users (n=13), social workers (n=3), social work managers (n=2) and stakeholders from external services and agencies (n=6). It included a costing analysis of staff time and an analysis of goals of service users and “satisfaction with life” self-report questionnaires (n=20), completed at pre- and post-intervention stages.

There was evidence that social workers used strengths, relationship-based and outcome-based focused approaches in their work. The techniques used by social workers to engage, achieve change and assess effectiveness with service users varied. These techniques included the use of photographs to enable the service user to map and assess their own progress over time, encouraging hoarders to declutter and reclaim their living space. The service users valued the time the social workers spent with them and the way that they were treated with sensitivity and respect.

The study focused on one local authority in England; there was no comparison group. This, and the small sample size, means that statistical generalisations cannot be made and only limited conclusions can be drawn from the quantitative data.

The paper provides insights into the work undertaken by social workers with adults who hoard. It contributes to the body of knowledge on effective social work interventions with adults who hoard.

Harrod's interwar papers are the result of the normal activity of an Oxford don, without a secretary and writing by hand, in the first two decades of his professional life, at a time when email did not exist and phone calls were events to be agreed upon in advance.⁴ They include correspondence (private, professional, political, and administrative), lecture notes, reading notes, drafts of papers (published and unpublished), proceedings of committees and of research groups, cuttings from newspapers, offprints of Harrod's own articles and of writings by others, and preliminary versions of his correspondents’ writings. Harrod was a compulsive hoarder, and his collection includes almost any written piece of papers that passed through his hands (including tailors’ bills and similar items).