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The present study aimed to develop the competencies of 21st-century learners by considering the characteristics of the education element in the curricula.

The study employed a qualitative research design and a content analysis technique. The research population consisted of 20 curriculum design professors selected via a snowball sampling method until data saturation was reached. The research instrument was semistructured interviewing. The content validity of the interview questions was determined according to 5 curriculum design experts' opinions. Four credibility, transferability, dependability and confirmability criteria were used to increase the accuracy of qualitative data. The findings were analyzed using thematic analysis (structural-interpretive) through open, axial and selective coding.

Education characteristics in competency-based curricula were categorized into knowledge, skills, attitude and educational values. Knowledge includes pedagogical knowledge, content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge and pedagogical technological knowledge; teaching skills include organization, facilitation, care and flexibility; educational attitudes consist of educational and pedagogical attitudes; and educational values include individual and group-social values.

The present research put three critical dimensions together: the competencies of the new-age learners from the perspective of the curriculum, which is the heart of the education process and is aimed at sustainable development, which is the priority of the countries today.

The present research aims to compare information-seeking behaviour of ordinary and elite saffron farmers in Iran.

The study sample consisted of 375 saffron farmers (295 ordinary and 80 elite saffron farmers) selected using the cluster sampling method. Data were collected by a kind of researcher-made questionnaire.

The results showed saffron onion, pesticides, cultivators and farmland worker were the main components of saffron farmers’ information-seeking behaviour of both groups. The most important sources of information for both groups included reference to past experience, neighbouring saffron farmers, contact with informants and other family members. The main criteria which affected the behaviour of the two groups on the use of information sources were provided information in local language, native people, clear and intelligible information and low cost. Farmers were also confronted with common problems such as lack of attention to the needs of farmers and insufficient number of technical experts. It was also found that there was no significant relationship between information-seeking behaviour of elite and ordinary saffron farmers and their performance.

Saffron is one of the most important agricultural export products in Iran, and this paper is the first research in this subject. The results can help develop information-seeking behaviour of farmers.

The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, testing the relationships between internal marketing and employee satisfaction; second, investigating the links between employee satisfaction and perceived organizational performance; and finally, testing the relationship between internal marketing and perceived organizational performance.

Data were collected from 419 employees working in 53 microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Kivu (DR Congo). Data processing was performed using structural equations modeling through LISREL 9.1.

The results revealed that there is a positive and significant relationship between internal marketing and employee satisfaction. The results also revealed that there is a positive and significant relationship between internal marketing and perceived organizational performance. However, no significant relationship between employee satisfaction and perceived organizational performance was identified.

There is a need to conduct a large qualitative survey aiming to understand why MFIs apply internal marketing and marketing practices in general. The results from such a study would serve to prepare a global quantitative study, which integrates in the same model internal marketing, external market orientation, employee job satisfaction (EJS), and organizational performance.

Results invite MFIs managers to change their mind and focus more on their employees. In fact, employees generate the most cost in general but they can also contribute to sustain growth and profitability. This is possible if they are better rewarded for their efforts.

This study links internal marketing, EJS and perceived performance in a sector and country which have been less or not studied in the marketing sector.