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The aim of this study is to explore approaches to learning in the workplace.

Computer based questionnaires are used with a sample of over 300 employees.

Using a version of the Revised Approaches to Study Inventory (RASI) adapted to workforce development, the factor structure of deep, surface and strategic approaches was obtained. Differences in approaches to learning as measured by the RASI were associated with training and learning histories, reasons for engaging in training, perceptions of current skill level and self reported development needs. Practical implications – It is argued that the notion that approaches to learning impact on success in a given degree course and/or are context/teaching style dependent under represents the impact that approaches to learning may have on workplace learning. Originality/value – The study demonstrates that the adapted RASI can be used with employees and that its principal psychometric properties reflect those reported for student samples.

Student approaches to studying were explored in business courses with samples in China, Kuwait and the USA. Information on approaches to studying is critical as delivery and content of educational practices are increasingly adapted to different world regions.

The Revised Approaches to Studying Inventory (RASI) was administered to address the extent to which students focused studying on deep learning of concepts, surface learning/memorization of material or strategic maximization of grades.

Results suggested (1) acceptable reliability for the RASI scales, (2) higher mean scores on deep, surface and strategic approaches for the Kuwait versus the China or USA samples, and (3) an interaction effect between country sample and strategic studying on the dependent variable of reported grade point average.

The research focuses on student initiative in the educational process. Also, comparative evidence from the Middle Eastern context is provided. This area has received relatively little attention in the literature.

There is a substantial body of empirical literature on university students' self‐perceived approaches to learning, but evidence on instructors' perceptions of the way they facilitate their students' learning approaches is less evident. This study aims to investigate the extent of the gap between students' learning approaches and instructors' teaching orientations towards facilitating these approaches. The subsequent employability of accounting graduates depends in part on the nature and extent of this gap. Student learning approaches are measured on two dimensions ‐ deep and strategic approaches ‐ drawn from Tait's and Entwistle's (1995) Revised Approaches to Studying Inventory (RASI). Instructors' facilitation of students' learning is measured by a re‐orientation of the same RASI instrument towards teaching approaches. The results reveal several significant differences of emphasis between instructors and students in terms of deep and strategic approaches. Students are falling short of what their instructors believe they are facilitating in terms of the development of their employability competencies and characteristics for a professional career. When students are grouped according to gender, further significant differences are found. Implications of these findings for future change in accounting education are discussed.

Today's businesses are facing a world that is more complex, turbulent and unpredictable than in the past with increasing levels of environmental complexity. Rather than proposing environmental uncertainty as a mediator/moderator of the relationship between agility and performance as others have done, the authors offer an alternative view where supply chain agility is seen as mediating the relationship between environmental uncertainty and supply chain performance.

The authors propose that supply chain agility is a response to the effects of environmental uncertainty and, as such, environmental uncertainty should be seen as a driver of supply chain agility. Few studies test the direct relationship between uncertainty and supply chain performance, and none simultaneously test for agility's mediation and moderation effect between environmental uncertainty and agility.

The model was statistically assessed using partial-least-squares structural equation modeling (PLS/SEM) by analyzing survey data from manufacturing managers in 136 US firms. The study results did not indicate a significant relationship between environmental uncertainty and supply chain performance. However, the authors did find a significant positive relationship between agile manufacturing and supply chain performance using measures that were primarily operations-centered rather than financial. Additionally, the authors found that agile manufacturing fully mediates the relationship between environmental uncertainty and supply chain performance.

The authors’ model, though simple, provides a base for future research for them and other researchers who can incorporate other impacting variables into the model. The study results show that uncertainty can be a force for good and that utilizing agile manufacturing can be a new source of opportunity.