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This paper aims to offer a typology of temporary workers, based on their motives for accepting their work arrangement, which includes voluntary, involuntary and stepping‐stone motives, and relate this typology to various individual and work‐related variables.

Latent class analysis of 645 European workers was used to construct a typology of temporary workers. Variation of individual and work‐related variables between types of temporary workers was analyzed using ANOVA.

The analyses suggest that there are three types of workers: involuntary temporary workers highlight the involuntary motive and the stepping‐stone motive; the stepping‐stone type stresses the stepping‐stone motive only, and the non‐involuntary group disagrees with all three motives. Moreover, the groups differed significantly on important work‐related variables such as occupational position, tenure, employability, and work‐involvement. However, differences in individual variables were limited.

The research puts forward a more complex typology of temporary workers than is usually suggested. Moreover, the study shows a non‐involuntary group for which temporary employment can become a trap, and hence these workers should be targeted by future policy and interventions.

The research offers a typology of temporary workers, which is founded on motivation theory, and existing research on motives for accepting temporary employment.

The current paper aims to provide an overview of the Stepping Stones Group Therapy Programme. Stepping Stones is an innovative 42‐week programme that comprehensively addresses the emotion regulation needs of offenders with an intellectual disability.

The paper discusses the process of implementing a group treatment programme in a secure forensic intellectual disability service.

Since the inception of the programme, there has been a reduction in both the frequency of aggression and the need for physical and chemical de‐escalation. In addition, clients have demonstrated a greater understanding of their emotional responses and an improved ability to use functional means of managing distress and solving life problems.

This paper shows that, although implementing group therapy programmes for clients with intellectual disabilities and co‐morbid emotion regulation difficulties can be daunting, treatment with this group of clients can be successful and rewarding.

Knowledge mobilization (KMb) offers an approach to conducting impactful research. In this chapter, we describe ways to remove barriers to understanding and implementing a KMb approach. We do this by examining the broad scope of KMb, thinking about how it has evolved over time, and focusing on core intent rather than terminology debates. Our goal is to offer a pragmatic series of stepping stones that form a KMb pathway. These steps include: (1) asking good questions; (2) aligning your work with what has already been done; (3) acquiring new and diverse knowledge; (4) adapting knowledge to a specific context; (5) applying knowledge in the real world; and (6) assessing what works and what doesn't throughout your journey. We argue that this process will identify and support successful implementation of nuanced, novel, and meaningful solutions to real-world problems. Following the KMb pathway will guide you toward becoming an impactful academic who creates a lasting research legacy and a positive mark on the world.

In this issue we profile three physical activity projects, all of which aim to help individuals with mental health problems improve their physical well‐being, rebuild their confidence and start to use ordinary community leisure amenities again. Each project operates in a quite different way but a common ingredient is partnership working with other local agencies across traditional sectoral boundaries. The Barrow Community Gym is an award winning gym offering individually tailored and supported exercise programmes. Portsmouth Interaction offers a range of sports and recreation activities providing stepping stones toward mainstream community provision. Green gyms combine physical exercise with conservation work to improve the local environment, an approach that may appeal to those of us who cannot face the ordinary gym!

This paper aims to review the international economic and political context within which China is developing its technology management strategy and its economy. The context represents a time of fundamentally significant change in and between the countries of East and West.

The paper is a conceptual one, which considers the changes in the prevailing politico‐economic consensus including changes in the West, between East and West and within China.

In the context of the current political and economic landscape, the paper suggests there are perhaps three watersheds emerging which will define the present era and the foreseeable future and within which China's technology management strategy and economic development needs to be considered.

Given all the recent developments in international markets and the historic scale of the intervention of governments in the West, the paper is a timely and original analysis of the ending of the neo‐liberal consensus which has prevailed for the last 30 years and the significance of current developments, not least for China.

This study aims to investigate the heterogeneous results about the impact of temporary jobs on subsequent labour market performances and to provide policymakers with further information on the effects of temporary contracts under particular circumstances.

The authors present a quantitative systematic review on the debate about the “stepping stone vs dead end” hypothesis related to the causal effect of temporary jobs on future labour market performances.

Among 78 observations from 64 articles, 32% support the hypothesis according to which temporary contracts are a port of entry into stable employment positions, 23% report ambiguous or mixed findings and the remaining 45% provide evidence in favour of the dead end hypothesis. The results from meta-regressions suggest that the stepping stone effect is more likely to emerge when self-selectivity issues are dealt with. The studies focussing on temporary work agency jobs and casual/seasonal jobs support more easily the dead end hypothesis. Finally, in more recent years and when the unemployment rate is larger, the dead end hypothesis is more likely to prevail.

Although many studies have been published on this issue, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, there are no recent analytic economic surveys on the “stepping stone vs dead end” debate. The main contribution of this article is to fill this gap.

China has been exceptionally competent at utilising the technology of others but the ability to develop its own is yet to be tested. The purpose of this paper is to investigate China's capacity for nurturing radical technology. For China to recapture its earlier technological prowess it will need a creative class. The paper proposes eight stepping stones for China to move from its current situation to a position where creativity and radical technology re‐emerge.

This is a conceptual paper that investigates options for China using a historical and trans‐disciplinary review.

Radical technology was a major strength for China prior to the 1500s. This paper suggests that China's subsequent demise in the technology stakes came from a combination of factors including regressive policies and the West finding a new politico‐economic model around science and technology. In total, eight stepping stones for Chinese institutional reform around creativity and radical technology are proposed.

Chinese businesses need to go much further than cost innovations and incremental additions to seriously challenge the creative capacity of their Western counterparts. This paper offers important insights for Chinese policy makers as they embark on innovation advancement in a highly competitive international business environment.

Fostering radical technology is a challenge for any society. Developing this aspect of Chinese society is a critical element for China and its policy makers as they progress to the next phase of economic growth.

The paper shows that identifying systemic issues for China's radical technology demise is important. Offering steps for China to increase its capacity for radical technology is equally worthy of investigation.

‘[Learning] helps all of us to improve our chances of getting a job and getting on …encourages independence …has opened up the chance to explore or become creative. It helps make ours a civilised society, develops the spiritual side of our lives and provides active citizenship. Learning enables people to play a full part in their community, it helps us fulfil our potential and opens doors to a love of music, art and literature. That is why we value learning for its own value as well as for the equality of opportunity it brings.‘Learning contributes to social cohesion and fosters a sense of belonging, responsibility and identity.’

The purpose of this paper is to distinguish knowledge gained vs skills learned as two learning-related training criteria; and to then test the impact of two career motivation variables, home care intent and stepping stone, for explaining these training criteria beyond controlled-for variables.

The research used a sample of 720 personal/home care aides (P/HCAs) who filled out pre-training and post-training surveys. Training consisted of 25 modules, lasting approximately 100 hours on various P/HCA knowledge bases, with training sessions generally five to six hours/day, four to five days/week over a three to four week period. Factor analyses, correlation, and hierarchical regression analyses were used to test the hypotheses.

Results showed that these two learning outcomes, knowledge gained vs skills learned, could be differentiated and reliably measured. Subsequent hierarchical regression analyses showed additional discriminant validity for these two learning outcomes. For the two measured career motivation variables, home care intent and stepping stone, home care intent was positively related to both learning outcomes but stepping stone only had a significant positive impact on skills learned. Training delivery was significantly related only to knowledge gained, while instructor rating was significantly related only to skills learned.

A unique sample of P/HCA trainees was utilized to test for this previously untested learning outcome distinction. As the population ages and demand increases for P/HCAs, additional training and studies evaluating such training will be needed.