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Some students with documented learning needs (e.g., learning disabilities, physical challenges) receive strong support through the legislation, funding, and accountability systems associated with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (1973). However, in the absence of supportive federal policy, other students with documented learning needs (e.g., high cognitive ability) experience varying levels of support due to differences in state and local policies, funding, and accountability requirements. These differences are due in large part to misconceptions about students with advanced learning needs (e.g., that they can meet grade-level standards without intervention) and equity concerns (e.g., students with the greatest perceived needs should be served first). Special education has a long history of alleviating educational mismatches by preparing students for challenging learning opportunities, providing classroom support structures, and monitoring educational placements through a system of regular evaluation and adjustment. Students served in gifted and talented education can benefit from these same asset-based, sociocultural approaches. However, efforts to support students with advanced learning needs are more likely to be consistently and successfully applied if they are backed by changes to existing policies, funding, and accountability systems.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the competencies that US healthcare organizations require for quality and performance improvement positions.

A US healthcare improvement job posting content analysis was conducted using the HQ Essentials competency framework.

The HQ essentials competencies most desired for improvement positions include project management, training, data analysis and applied performance improvement methods. Competency requirements varied somewhat by job focus area: performance, quality, or process improvement, and Lean and Six Sigma.

Healthcare leaders may use the author’s results to understand what competencies may be required for various improvement roles and to identify any gaps in required skills and knowledge areas that may need to be addressed. Educators and policy-makers should consider how these competencies align with employers’ needs and what resources or professional development may be needed to address gaps.

This is the first healthcare improvement competencies analysis based on job postings.

Organisational commitment has been studied for several decades. Research on the human resource side of mergers and acquisitions has typically emphasised the human resource ‘problems’ related to integration, such as low motivation, increased dissatisfaction, low commitment and performance, stress, leadership and power struggles, and high employee turnover. However, there is scant research on organisational commitment in the context of acquisitions. Yet, based on prior research, organisational commitment is important in terms of employee retention, commitment to change and post-acquisition performance. The model developed in this chapter explains what influences organisational commitment in acquisitions and how to build organisational commitment towards the acquirer. A number of propositions are derived from the model, and the implications for M&A research and practice are discussed.

Media power plays a role in determining which news is told, who is listened to and how subject matter is treated, resulting in some stories being reported in depth while others remain cursory and opaque. This chapter examines how domestic violence and abuse (DVA) is reported in mainstream and social media encompassing newspapers, television and digital platforms. In the United Kingdom, newspapers have freedom to convey particular views on subjects such as DVA as, unlike radio and television broadcasting, they are not required to be impartial (Reeves, 2015).

The gendered way DVA is represented in the UK media has been a long-standing concern. Previous research into newspaper representations of DVA, including our own (Lloyd & Ramon, 2017), found evidence of victim blaming and sexualising violence against women. This current study assesses whether there is continuity with earlier research regarding how victims of DVA, predominantly women, are portrayed as provoking their own abuse and, in cases of femicide, their characters denigrated by some in the media with impunity (Soothill & Walby, 1991). The chapter examines how certain narratives on DVA are constructed and privileged in sections of the media while others are marginalised or silenced. With the rise in digital media, the chapter analyses the changing patterns of news media consumption in the UK and how social media users are responding to DVA cases reported in the news. Through discourse analysis of language and images, the potential messages projected to media consumers are considered, together with consumer dialogue and interaction articulated via online and social media platforms.

Outsourcing has been promoted as one of the most powerful trends in the modernization of marketing operations. The rationale for such an undertaking includes a variety of factors but is generally predicated on fiduciary considerations. The purpose of this article is to examine the issues with, and the empirical consequences of, outsourcing within the intercollegiate marketing context.

This is an exploratory mixed‐methods study incorporating qualitative and quantitative data to investigate outsourcing specifically related to the communication‐employee commitment relationship.

Results from study 1 reveal that marketing directors perceive outsourcing as critical but also experience dissatisfaction with the level, frequency, and direction of communication. Results from study 2 indicate that an explicit and positive relationship exists between employee satisfaction with communication and their resultant commitment to the organization.

Owing to the exploratory nature of the study and a relatively small sample, the conclusions are tempered until subsequent studies have been performed. As well, specific moderating variables (e.g. size, culture, budget) were not included in this initial inquiry and as such may add considerable variance explained to the proposed relationship.

First, the authors suggest that managing the “right commitment” is essential for marketing departments when working with an outsourcing agency. Second, the authors call attention to the importance of certain contextual factors (e.g. shared knowledge, mutual dependency, and organizational linkage) that may serve to improve the outsourcing partnership.

Few papers have explored the communication‐commitment relationship, particularly with regards to outsourcing. Consequently, this study adds to the research by examining how intercollegiate marketing employees perceive and react to an outsourcing partnership. Building on additional work in this area, the research focuses on several aspects of the communication‐commitment framework not previously examined.

The purpose of this paper was to develop a taxonomy of organizations based on business value (BV) underlying electronic human resource management (e-HRM) adoption motivations.

A taxonomy was developed using cluster analysis of the online case stories of 146 firms. Results were validated using discriminant analysis. Differences in organization and environmental characteristics across clusters were examined.

Seven meaningful and distinct clusters were uncovered showing asymmetry in the consideration of strategic BV underlying the motivations of e-HRM adoption. Statistical tests revealed that the seven clusters have high internal validity. Statistically significant differences in organizational conditions were found among clusters.

This research offers an empirically and conceptually grounded taxonomy of organizations that reveals strategic and nonstrategic BV that organizations actually put forward and the way they combine together to form different profiles. This research is based on secondary data, that is, data initially gathered for a distinct goal different from this research.

The developed taxonomy provides human resource (HR) managers, executives, researchers and consultants a useful way to describe and understand motivations underlying e-HRM adoption. The taxonomy may also facilitate valid and systematic assessment of e-HRM effectiveness.

This research moves the debate beyond normative arguments to a more analytic assessment of the actual practice of organizations regarding e-HRM adoption and expected BV.

A dilemma exists in that many view offshoring as a tradeoff between cost efficiency and innovation. The purpose of this paper is to reconcile this dilemma by showing how and why offshoring to institutionally distant host countries may result in innovation. The authors introduce an institutional lens in order to understand how offshoring to institutionally distant locales affects innovation outcomes of multinational enterprises. This lens is aimed to provide an analytical tool that is less coarse and less overwhelmingly focused on institutional distance (ID) as a harsh and certain harbinger of reduced innovation performance.

The authors use primary data from the Offshoring Research Network as well as secondary data from the Frasier Institute on Economic Freedom, and Hofstede’s cultural value survey to empirically assess the distinct effects of distance on innovation at the firm level.

The authors have developed a model of distance and innovation which goes beyond the traditional assumption of distance as overwhelmingly negative. Whereas in some cases, the positive effect of formal and informal distances outweigh the negative effects stimulating innovation; in other cases, the negative effects of distance hamper innovation. Finally, some elements of distance may not have an impact on innovation outcomes at all.

While previous research stresses the negative effects of distance in general, the authors provide an ID model which, in the context of offshoring, takes into account potential positive, negative, or no effects.

The study presents global supply chain managers with a reference framework for making strategic offshoring relationships decisions.

By unbundling the inherently confounding formative construction of distance measures, eschewing the reflexive assumption that distance is always negative, and mapping theories specific to the application of distinct institutional logics to specific value-enhancing business activities (i.e. innovation), this study offers a more accurate and complete institutional picture that helps reconcile institutional theory with an empirical record that often fails to find what it predicts.

This study aims to explore the relationship between mission statements and organisational performance in non-profit organisations. It also examines the role of organisational commitment in moderating that relationship.

Invitations were sent to a network of non-profit organisations inviting them to complete an online survey. Usable responses were obtained from 117 respondents from 30 countries. Hierarchical regression was used to test the hypotheses.

The findings suggest that mission statements have a significant positive relationship with organisational performance. Also, organisational commitment, particularly affective commitment, moderates the relationship between mission statements and organisational performance.

The results confirm that the relationship between mission statements and organisational performance is complex. The study of intervening variables is a worthwhile program of research.

The findings suggest that non-profit organisations can improve performance by communicating their mission and building emotional commitment to their cause.

This is one of the first studies to examine the role of organisational commitment in influencing the relationship between mission statements and performance. This study contributes to our understanding of the impact of mission statements on performance in non-profit organisations.

This article explores four dimensions of frontline employee (FLE) friendliness (humorous, informal, conversational, and approachable) to propose a relevant measurement instrument of the influence of FLE friendliness on relationship quality and perceived value, as well as its indirect influence on repatronage intentions. Recent studies suggest FLE friendliness, defined as a tendency to convey an affective customer–employee social interaction, is a critical determinant of relationship marketing, but few scholars agree on its dimensionality. This study seeks a deeper understanding of FLE friendliness by investigating its different dimensions in various service contexts.

The mixed-method design, including both qualitative and quantitative research, offers a deeper understanding of the phenomenon of FLE friendliness.

The content analysis suggests FLE friendliness is multidimensional and composed of humorous, informal, conversational, and approachable behaviors. The results of a quantitative survey, conducted across four service contexts, validate this four-factor model. A second quantitative survey across two service contexts reveals the weights and relative importance of the dimensions, and then a third quantitative survey across three service contexts confirms that FLE friendliness is a significant driver of relationship quality, perceived value, and repatronage intentions (indirectly).

This study contributes to relationship marketing literature by strengthening the conceptual foundations of FLE friendliness, clarifying the dimensionality of the construct, developing a comprehensive measurement instrument, and extending previous research on the customer–employee interactions.