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It is now over twelve years since I presented a paper to the Northern Branch of Aslib comparing the working of an industrial library with that of a public library. Since then, there has been a considerable growth in the number of special libraries and this, together with the counter attractions of employment openings elsewhere created by the industrial situation, has resulted in considerable difficulty in obtaining the desired type of library staff. The present time, therefore, would appear to be appropriate to re‐examine the staffing problem, particularly as it affects special libraries.

This chapter explores different strategies implemented by three companies using professional (LinkedIn) and non-professional (Facebook) social networking websites (SNWs) as a recruitment tool and investigates the influence of their perceived usability and attractiveness on job seekers’ attraction and their intention to apply.

First, a laboratory experiment involving 171 MBA students compares the effectiveness of three different social recruitment strategies. Second, a survey among 110 job seekers focuses on the most effective strategy in terms of attraction as an employer and the influence of perceived usability and attractiveness of professional SNW pages on job seekers’ intention to pursue the job.

The laboratory experiment confirms the key role of LinkedIn as an e-recruitment practice. The survey shows that the overall company image, the usability of the LinkedIn page and the interaction between the attractiveness of the page and the overall company image positively influence job seekers’ intention to pursue the job.

The research offers insights on job seekers’ reactions to 2.0 Internet-based recruitment. Companies should focus on and invest in professional social medias, paying attention to the usability of their SNWs pages.

Recruitment is a strategic HRM practice to attract talents; however, research lags behind practice and little is known about job seekers’ perceptions and reactions to Internet recruitment. This chapter sheds light on the use of social media for recruitment and identifies two features that contribute to an effective e-recruitment strategy.

The literature of human motivation in a work setting is reviewed. The main theories are those of individual needs, equity and expectancy/value. This is followed by an examination of the relationship between motivation and methods of job and work design. Particular emphasis is placed on the practical value of strategies resulting from these theories. The area of application for these principles is academic libraries, the main characteristics of which are identified. These include the influence of environmental factors, such as technological innovation and economic recession, the nature of the higher education system and the user community. This is followed by an analysis of library staff attitudes and the nature of library work. The division between professional and non‐professional staff is seen as particularly important in this context. The theories of motivation and work design are then applied to academic libraries and some gaps in the literature identified. The emphasis on higher order needs and lack of theory on motivation and the social aspects of work are noted. An outline of the most useful theories is offered and the importance of library managers remaining responsive to local needs is stressed.

The authors collected data from 295 randomly selected employees, four months after the company’s first labor union certification election. Results of separate multiple regression analyses suggested that job security, extrinsic job satisfaction, and organization‐based self‐esteem (OBSE) were predictors of organizational instrumentality for both males and females. For men, the division where they work, low desire to change, and low consideration were related to their organizational instrumentality, whereas for women, low income, the Japanese management style, and the Protestant Work Ethic were related to their organizational instrumentality. Non‐professional men had a stronger belief that money represents their achievement than professional men. Professional women had a stronger interest in intrinsic job satisfaction than non‐professional women. Both male and female professionals valued Japanese management style. Results are discussed in light of managers’ efforts in satisfying employees’ needs and union leaders’ efforts in organizing their targets.

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate how occupational division impacts on social capital and access to resources that may have a bearing on the growth potential and success of a new venture.

This study compares the social capital profiles of early‐stage entrepreneurs in England with distinct occupational classifications – i.e. entrepreneurs who were completing training on the Science and Enterprise Challenge (SEC) initiative and pursuing professional and higher technician businesses, and entrepreneurs who were completing training on the New Entrepreneurship Scholarship (NES) initiative and who were residing in deprived areas, unemployed or underemployed and pursuing non‐professional businesses. The European Socio‐economic Classification (ESeC) was adopted to classify occupation. The entrepreneurs completed aided name generator questionnaires and in‐depth interviews.

The findings demonstrate that professional and higher technician entrepreneurs have higher levels of bridging and diverse resources when compared to non‐professional entrepreneurs residing in deprived areas. The non‐professional entrepreneurs also seem over‐reliant on too much bonding.

Policy makers strive to understand who has the most productive social capital when launching a business and who does not. The findings may help provide an initial awareness that across the board entrepreneurial policies are inappropriate, as the building of social capital seems contextual.

The high bridging social capital of professional and higher technician entrepreneurs could enable “getting ahead” and could be entrepreneurial/innovative “facilitating social capital”. The non‐professional entrepreneurs residing in deprived areas' over‐reliance on bonding social capital could be a liability and entrepreneurial/innovative “inhibiting social capital”.

The International Accounting Standards Board and the Financial Accounting Standards Board allow fair value measurement of liabilities. Previous findings from the literature on recognition versus disclosure indicate that recognition of fair value information better serves investors' needs, because it is more likely to facilitate the incorporation of the information into their judgment. In cases of credit risk changes for own liabilities, however, many authors doubt that fair value measurement is beneficial due to its potential counter‐intuitiveness. The purpose of this paper is to gain insight into non‐professional investors' processing of fair value information for liabilities.

A between‐subjects laboratory experiment was employed. Subjects received financial information on three different companies. The authors manipulated the accounting treatment of liabilities between the three groups. Subjects ranked three companies according to their economic performance. The authors then compared these rankings to the companies' actual performance.

The results of the experiment indicate that non‐professional investors are less likely to acquire the information of credit risk changes when liabilities are not measured at fair value. Additionally, evidence was found that fair value measurement is to some extent counter‐intuitive for non‐professional investors.

A main limitation is that our experiment concentrates on liabilities and abstracts from interactions of both sides of the balance sheet.

This is the first study to analyze in detail non‐professional investors' information processing of liabilities measured at fair value.

Earnings management is a common term in the academic community and is likely understood by managers and professional investors, but how the large community of non-professional investors interprets this term is less clear. We examine non-professional investors’ attitudes toward earnings management and their resulting investing behaviors using a 2 × 2 mixed design. We manipulate investor role (prospective vs current) between participants and the method of earnings management within participants. We believe that different investment goals (prevention vs promotion) between current and prospective investors should lead to different investing behaviors. Consistent with our expectations, we find that current investors are more likely to maintain an equity than prospective investors are to invest in the same opportunity. Further, the consistent link between investors’ attitudes and actual investment behavior is only present for prospective investors. The prevention goal drives the current investors to maintain their investment, while the prospective investors remain more objective and focus on a goal of promotion. Importantly, prior research examining investor attitude toward earnings management has failed to link investors’ attitudes with actual investing decisions; our study attempts to fill this void by examining attitudes toward earnings management as well as subsequent investment behavior.

The professionalisation of library and information work in England appears to have had an impact on the library assistants′ perceptions of their work. The failure of some senior members of staff to entrust their subordinates with authority and responsibility appears to engender feelings of mistrust. As the library becomes bigger and more complex, petty hierarchies develop within sections, resulting in some library assistants getting less variety of jobs and less information. This brings about a condition of low trust relationship. What is needed is a more human‐oriented approach, with more attention being paid to job content; intellectual stimulation (scope for creative thinking); training of a professional nature (scope for personal development); achievement, self respect, promotion and pay.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors that may affect female Saudi students who are considered potential non‐professional investors.

A structured questionnaire was distributed to the participants; the obtained data were analyzed using the probit model and the Likert scale.

The results indicate that female students are more likely to own stocks if they have a high level of financial education. Variables such as age, income, grade point average (GPA), grade obtained in financial courses, and risk tolerance also affect stock ownership decision. The respondents also depend on 21 factors to analyze and evaluate stocks before making investment decisions.

Several studies have been conducted on investors' behavior; however, few of them have focused on non‐professional investors and none of these has focused on young, educated, female Saudi investors.