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IT related skills are vital for becoming and remaining a citizen in a digitally supported information society – also for adults who are no longer in school; do not use IT in their work; are unemployed, self‐employed, or retired; or otherwise without the technical support, possibilities for training, and availability of a community of practice and “master users” that are common in organizational contexts. The paper aims to draw on literature on learning IT skills in the organizational context and to apply this in a non‐organizational, community context. The paper seeks to explore how individual IT‐skill and knowledge development could be supported using formal and informal learning strategies, including community services, training courses, information events, learning community and other learning mechanisms.

The paper is empirically grounded in a research and development project with 50 participating families who received a PC, printer, and internet connection, as well as training, technical support, and information events over a period of two years. Both qualitative and quantitative data were gathered throughout the project. Data are here analyzed as an extensive case study.

Based on experiences from the project the paper describes how “digital literacies” could be learned and supported and inclusion in the digital information society enhanced in practice. The paper develops a framework that shows how different learning strategies and mechanisms support different kinds of computer knowledge and skill areas; describes three interlinked areas of IT knowledge and skills; and suggests a number of practical implications on how computer self‐efficacy could be supported in a non‐organizational context.

The paper draws on extant knowledge about learning and developing IT‐skills in the organizational context, and applies this knowledge in a different context in order to explore how this knowledge can be used also outside organizations to support adults to be part of the digitally supported information society.

The purpose of this paper is to explore gender differences in career prospects and changes in attitudes to international assignments over recent decades in Finland. This is relevant in light of the international immobility trend among staff with which MNCs especially are struggling, coupled with the persistent unequal ratio of male to female expatriates. The paper aims to increase the understanding of how gender and family relations affect international career prospects and what changes have evolved over time.

The paper compares differences and changes in opportunities to and preferences for long-term international assignments between male and female business graduates in Finland. It uses survey data on attitudes to expatriation from 1994 to 2008.

A general shift from individual career centeredness towards family centeredness was detected between the two points in time. Paradoxically, this research shows that while gender equality seems to be increasing between spouses, it seems to be decreasing in who is being offered international assignments. The results give valuable insights into how the trend of international immobility has occurred and how the gender relations and gendered values are developing in society.

While the international immobility trend persists, women apparently remain as an under-utilized resource when searching for employees to send on long-term expatriate assignments. Global HR professionals should pay more attention to whom expatriate assignments are offered and to how dual career couples and families can be better supported in the expatriation process.

The paper contributes to the understanding of gendered careers and women's opportunities in international assignments with a unique comparison of changes over time.