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This study aims to explore the transformation of the roles of libraries, application trends and potential research issues of library-supported mobile learning.

The publications in the Scopus database from 2009 to 2018 are reviewed and analyzed from various aspects, such as the roles of libraries in mobile learning, types of libraries, research foci and sensing or location-based technologies.

The role of libraries as learning material providers is examined the most in library-supported mobile learning studies, followed by the role as inquiry context providers and as knowledge-sharing platforms. In terms of the role as learning material providers, academic libraries were investigated the most and radio frequency identification (RFID) was mainly adopted. In terms of the role as inquiry context providers, special libraries were explored the most; adopted sensing technologies were more diverse (e.g. QR code, augmented reality, RFID and Global Positioning System). Only special libraries played a role as knowledge-sharing platforms, adopting augmented reality. Most research on library-supported mobile learning mainly focused on investigating the affective domain during mobile learning.

Five potential applications of educational roles in library-supported mobile learning are suggested based on the findings of the present study.

The current study provides insights relevant to the educational roles of library-supported mobile learning. The findings and suggestions can serve as references for researchers and school teachers conducting library-supported mobile learning.

This study aims to compare similarities and differences in library and information science (LIS) and non-LIS undergraduates’ conceptions and perceptions of smart libraries via drawing analysis.

In this study, a total of 156 undergraduate students described their perceptions of smart libraries as drawings and textual descriptions. A modified coding scheme with 8 categories and 51 subcategories was used to analyse the undergraduate students’ drawings.

Most of the undergraduate students’ conceptions of smart libraries still involve self-checkout and learning/reading, focusing on information appliances, technical services, activities and objects. The differences are that the LIS undergraduates’ drawings showed smart libraries with robots, interactive book borrowing with technology tools, intelligent services, location-aware services or mobile applications, whereas non-LIS undergraduates presented smart libraries as readers (learners), other activities and no smart technology services. LIS undergraduates focused on providing patron services with technologies. Non-LIS undergraduates were more likely to draw a complex space with immediate access to books or digital resources, quiet reading and the freedom to engage in library activities.

The results provide a baseline for future research on the topic and provide preliminary evidence of using the methods to discern LIS and non-LIS undergraduates’ conceptions of smart libraries.

Despite the strong focus on virtues in firms, humility is little recognized in the management literature and, more particularly in the literature about knowledge sharing (KS). Despite efforts to foster KS among employees in firms, the effectiveness of this process narrows down to the dyadic relationship between the knowledge seeker and provider within firm. This paper aims to investigate the role of humility in the KS process in dyadic activity.

The authors undertake an exploratory investigation to fill some of the gaps found in the literature. The paper draws insights from psychology, history, religion, current events and management literature.

The authors identify several individual propensities that help predict humility towards sharing knowledge from seeker (humble knowledge-inquiry) and provider perspectives (humble response). They propose a new conceptual process model of KS with humility as an important variable to consider. This work highlights several promising directions for future research.

As per the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper that investigates the role of humility in knowledge sharing from dyadic perspective. The authors also introduce concepts of humble knowledge inquiry and humble response in a dyadic context for effective knowledge sharing process.

It has been suggested that “space and artifacts constitute systems of communication which organizations build up within themselves” (Gagliardi, 1992a, b, p. vi) and reflect the cultural life within that organization. This is a study of how the “landscape” of a public library (“Library X”), as an information retrieval system, relates to the values of the people who created it. The efforts here are geared towards understanding the physical instantiation of institutional culture and, more specifically, institutional values as they are reflected through the artifact.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the notion of “service transgression” which violates customers’ religious beliefs through observing certain dietary guidelines that shape their religious identity. While service transgression and customer forgiveness are predominantly examined using experimental procedures or questionnaire survey in existing studies, this study adopts an interpretive paradigm to explore the complexities and idiosyncratic narratives of individual perceptions.

Detailed narrative accounts of 15 participants consisting of five Muslims, five Buddhists and five Hindus; who are working adults residing in Malaysia were gathered via in-depth interviews. Critical incident technique was employed with interpretive approach being undertaken to uncover key themes that form the essence of experiences in service transgressions.

The responses from participants were mainly contingent to the individuals’ interpretations of their religious expectations in the assessment of the incidents. Observations from the interview protocols reveal common themes in the consideration of whether one has indeed transgressed against the religious norms, the assignment of blame and responsibility and reparation of relationships. From the findings of this study, the authors developed a typology of conflict framing categories: “damaged identity”, “identity at risk” and “identity preservation” by considering both dyadic and triadic service relationships in service failure incidents which involve a violation of customers’ religious belief systems.

The outcome of this study seeks to inform service providers on the impact of service transgression of this nature upon consumers particularly in a multi-faith society. Additionally, this study provides insights into the implementation of service recovery strategies if and when such situation arises.

By undertaking a narrative enquiry, this study uncovers personal sense making in this phenomenon within the contextual frame of societal and historical norms. The outcome of this study provides insights to service providers on the impact of service transgression upon consumers particularly in a multi-faith context such as Malaysia. Additionally, this study discusses managerial implications associated with the implementation of service recovery strategies if and when such situation arises.

The purpose of this study is to examine the actions and interactions that take place before and after purchase between a service provider (service seller) and its customers (service buyers) in complex business relationships. Specifically, it is to examine customers’ expectations of the service provider’s service offer before purchase and the same customers’ perceptions of the service solution offered after purchase in a business-to-business (B2B) context.

This study adopted a mixed methods design, which combined data generated through in-depth interviews (both with service buyers and key informants from the service company), an online customer survey, analysis of textual documents and structured observations of buyer–seller interactions and actions. Both objective and subjective points of view at different stages of the investigation were collected.

The authors’ results show that, contrary to previous evidence in B2C service research, the customers’ perceptions of the service performance were not significantly related to their previous expectations. In this context, characterized by dynamic and constantly evolving processes and many parties (both from the buyer and the seller company) involved in the implementation process, service complexity may cause a lack of well-formed expectations regarding how the service will perform and its relevant performance attributes.

This study suggests that the service models traditionally used to describe and explain customer service expectations and perceptions in relatively simple service contexts with final consumers are difficult to apply in B2B complex business relationships. Rather, scholars need to take a holistic, continuously evolving and adapted perspective when examining the formation of customer service expectations and their perceptions in B2B complex services.

There should be a teleological balance between sales and purchase approaches in B2B contexts to optimize the outcome of complex business relationships between service providers and service receivers. The authors suggest several recommendations to service providers to ensure that their salespeople do not create unrealistic and unachievable expectations in the minds of the service receivers. Service providers are also encouraged to develop formal cross functional teams (e.g. consisting of salespeople, service technicians and service support) based on mutual understanding and information sharing.

This study provides an alternative time-oriented understanding of the way customer expectations before purchase and their perceptions after purchasing a complex software solution in industrial markets formed through the lens of teleological framework. As such, this is the first empirical inquiry with this specific framework in B2B contexts making a relevant contribution to literature.

Dialogic peer coaching as leadership can enable teachers to influence each other's professional learning. The purpose of this paper is to shift the emphasis from the role associated with the designated title of leader to the purpose and relevance of teacher leadership in the context of dialogic peer coaching.

The research was undertaken as a small qualitative case study embedded in a school-based, teacher professional development project. Nine groups of peer coaches from five unrelated schools engaged in a formal process of collaborative inquiry over two years. Interview data from 13 volunteer teacher participants were analysed using the constant comparison method and themes determined.

The study revealed that there was growth in teacher leadership capabilities as they become dialogic peer coaches to each other.

Through their collaborative peer coaching dialogue teachers have the transformative space to articulate their thinking. They can engage in dialogic feedback where they are positioned as experts in their own practice.

The teachers in this study are positioned within communities of practice as co-constructers of knowledge and co-learners. On the basis of the findings the authors suggest that this can support the development of high capacity leadership in schools. This stance contrasts with a technicist approach to teacher professional learning in which teachers are situated as absorbers or recipients of knowledge constructed elsewhere.

The research reported in this paper addresses three key elements of leadership: individual development; collaboration or team development; and organisational development. It outlines a means by which teacher leadership can be strengthened to address these elements in schools.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how residualisation is experienced across a supported housing provider in an English county. The analysis is in three parts: firstly, it focuses on organisational provision, including impacts of change on decisions on market entry and exit; secondly, it reviews evidence on service provision and the adaptations services are making to reflect the changing pressures of the sector; finally, it considers the impacts on service delivery and the experiences of those that rely on the provision.

The analysis uses interview data across the organisation, together with material from the UK Government department consultation (2017) and a UK Parliamentary Select Committee inquiry (2017) to examine the impacts across the different tiers of service, including the day-to-day experience of residualised services for those that deliver and receive that support.

The paper concludes that residualisation is a direct outcome of the neoliberalisation of welfare states, introducing limits to state involvement and funding, a greater emphasis on quasi-market involvement in the sector and a shifting of responsibility from government to individuals.

It not only demonstrates the impacts of reducing state support on the supported housing sector but also emphasises the importance of residualisation as a conceptual framework applicable to the wider implications of austerity and neoliberal ideology.

This paper demonstrates the way that the burden of responsibility is being shifted away from the public provision of support and onto the individuals. This can be problematic for the individuals who are vulnerable as a result of their economic medical or social circumstances.

The retreat of the state from supported housing is both a political change and an austerity-led change. This article provides insight from a single-supported housing provider. In so doing, it illustrates the pressure such an organisation is under.

This paper provides a unique insight from the perspective of all levels of a supported housing service provider, combined with the analysis of government consultation and parliamentary inquiry.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how microfinance initiatives (MFIs) are organized and orchestrated to serve internal and external stakeholders.

A qualitative case study of three international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)–CARE, Oxfam and Grameen Foundation–provided insights into how they each organize and orchestrate MFIs. We used Pettigrew's (1987, 1990) contextual inquiry framework to guide our data collection and analysis of 20 interviews to understand how capacity building, technology adaptation and outcome measurement interact with content, context and process.

We found that CARE's classical model exemplifies decades of successful MFI service delivery, serving as a benchmark for other NGOs. Oxfam's adaptive model builds on CARE's model to leverage MFIs as platforms for achieving multisectoral outcomes. Finally, Grameen Foundation's innovative model builds on both CARE's classical and Oxfam's adaptive models, using human-centered design and scalable business practices. We also found overlaps between the three models, demonstrating the continuous adaptation of MFI models based on changing contexts, such as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Our research focused on three NGOs headquartered in the USA, involving interviews with staff members having microfinance expertise. We offer analytical generalizability while emphasizing that any change in cultural context, institutional setting or operational conditions may produce different outcomes.

We provide exemplary and comparative insights into key issues related to organizing and orchestrating MFIs for NGO practitioners, scholars and policymakers who wish to understand prevailing service delivery models. Finally, we demonstrate the contextual inquiry framework as a viable approach to learn how NGOs organize and orchestrate MFIs through content, context and process.

The purpose of this paper is to use a descriptive case study to establish how collaboration, innovation and knowledge‐management strategies have scaled‐up learning and development in rural, remote and other resource‐constrained Canadian delivery settings.

Intervention design was realized through a one‐time, collaborative, national capacity‐building project. A project portfolio of 72 sub‐projects, initiatives and strategic activities was used to improve access, enhance quality and create capacity for palliative and end‐of‐life care services. Evaluation was multifaceted, including participatory action research, variance analysis and impact analysis. This has been supplemented by post‐intervention critical reflection and integration of relevant literature.

The purposeful use of collaboration, innovation and knowledge‐management strategies have been successfully used to support a rapid scaling‐up of learning and development interventions. This has enabled enhanced and new pan‐Canadian health delivery capacity implemented at the local service delivery catchment‐level.

The intervention is bounded by a Canada‐specific socio‐cultural/political context. Design variables and antecedent conditions may not be present and/or readily replicated in other nation‐state contexts. The findings suggest opportunities for future integrative and applied health services and policy research, including collaborative inquiry that weaves together concepts from adult learning, social science and industrial engineering.

Scaling‐up for new capacity is ideally approached as a holistic, multi‐faceted process which considers the total assets within delivery systems, service catchments and communities as potentially being engaged and deployed.

The Pallium Integrated Capacity‐building Initiative offers model elements useful to others seeking theory‐informed practices to rapidly and effectively scale‐up learning and development efforts.