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This paper discusses the information competency (information literacy) program at the Glendale Community College (California) Library, and the findings of a longitudinal study which indicate that information competency instruction has significant impact on student success (defined as retention and grades). The Glendale Community College Library’s information competency program consists of on‐demand instruction sessions, a series of standardized workshops repeated weekly, two transferable credit courses (one of which is being experimentally paired with English composition), and infusion of discipline‐related research skills into major courses. Quantitative data from the research study are included, as are anecdotal data regarding the paired Library‐English courses and the infusion into the nursing curriculum.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a research agenda and raise practical issues relating to the increasing complexity of the internationally mobile professional.

The paper considers the developing issues in the use of alternative forms of international assignment (short‐term, commuter, flexpatriate) and the existence of the independent internationally mobile professional and raises questions for research and practice.

The paper suggests that alternative forms of international assignment and assignee are under‐ researched. Additionally, the large number of independently mobile professionals in the global economy need to be further researched, while organizations should recruit for international assignments from the external as well as internal labour markets when circumstances allow.

The paper raises under‐researched questions in the study of international assignments and suggests more strategic approaches to the practice of managing international assignments.

To explore self‐directed expatriates' relationships with their home and host countries by drawing on an existing model of expatriate managers' allegiance to home and host organizations.

Using a qualitative methodology and thematic analysis, the study draws on interviews with 30 expatriate academics in four countries. Specifically, the paper draws on Black and Gregersen's model of allegiance to home and host organizations to explore the different dimensions and the strength and weakness of those relationships.

The findings suggest that, while the model of allegiance presents a useful starting‐point, further modifications are required in order to cater for the complexity and dynamism of relationships with home and host countries.

Whereas the paper focuses on UK expatriates, it may be that other nationals may experience different relationships with their home and host countries. Moreover, it may be useful to explore the relationships of other self‐directed expatriates such as managers and corporate executives, or medical personnel.

The specific value of the paper is that it explores a hitherto under‐researched theme and provides an insight into the identified dimensions of self‐directed expatriates' relationships with their home and host countries.

In the last four years, since Volume I of this Bibliography first appeared, there has been an explosion of literature in all the main functional areas of business. This wealth of material poses problems for the researcher in management studies — and, of course, for the librarian: uncovering what has been written in any one area is not an easy task. This volume aims to help the librarian and the researcher overcome some of the immediate problems of identification of material. It is an annotated bibliography of management, drawing on the wide variety of literature produced by MCB University Press. Over the last four years, MCB University Press has produced an extensive range of books and serial publications covering most of the established and many of the developing areas of management. This volume, in conjunction with Volume I, provides a guide to all the material published so far.

In this paper we present a corporate information system for untrained users to search gigabytes of unformatted data using quasi‐natural language and relevance feedback queries. The data can reside on distributed servers anywhere on a wide area network, giving the users access to personal, corporate, and published information from a single interface. Effective queries can be turned into profiles, allowing the system to automatically alert the user when new data are available. The system was tested by twenty executive users located in six cities. Our primary goal in building the system was to determine if the technology and infrastructure existed to make end‐user searching of unstructured information profitable. We found that effective search and user interface technologies for end‐users are available, but network technologies are still a limiting cost factor. As a result of the experiment, we are continuing the development of the system. This article will describe the overall system architecture, the implemented subset, and the lessons learned.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the idea of expatriate adjustment through naturally occurring data. Specifically, through an investigation of three e‐mails sent to the author by a friend, Doug, the paper explores the notion that adjustment is a fluid concept and that through qualitative research methods it is possible to appreciate the expatriate experience in the context of an expatriate's “whole life” of experiences. This is in contrast to positivist approaches to the study of adjustment which offer limited snapshots of adjustment at particular moments in time.

The paper investigates three e‐mails sent by Doug to the author. The e‐mails constitute a form of naturally occurring data, and through forms of narrative analysis the e‐mails are able to be examined to throw light on the process of expatriate adjustment.

The paper highlights ways in which qualitative research methods generally, and specifically when used in relation to expatriates, enable a fuller understanding of the processes of “adjustment” that expatriates experience and its relationship to their life as a “work in progress”. This type of research approach and analysis complements the more positivist study of expatriates. In some aspects it supports research findings on adjustment, but it serves to humanize the independent expatriate and their experience.

The research is a case study of only a single subject. The paper suggests the potential for using naturally occurring data in the study of expatriates and independent expatriates in particular.

Stories of the experiences of expatriation offer insightful and “real” access to the lived experience of the expatriate. In this sense, they can be much more powerful than other forms of cross‐cultural training.

The paper highlights the importance of naturally occurring data and the need to consider “whole lives” in the past and present, of research “participants”.

This paper focuses on the relatively unexplored link between international experience and academic careers. Drawing on a study of 30 British academics in four countries, it reports how they accounted for their decision to take an overseas appointment and how they evaluated that appointment. The contemporary career literature is used as a framework for analysis connecting the findings with “traditional” and “new” career themes. The desire to travel was found to be a key driver in taking the overseas appointment. When it came to evaluating the overseas appointment, however, upward career mobility in the context of increasing internationalisation was a major concern. The paper offers a number of key concerns for managers in institutions of higher education, particularly those concerned with the management and recruitment of international faculty.

The concept of organisational or corporate “culture” has in recent years forced its way to the forefront of the managerial and academic literature. So much so that the 1980s seem destined to be the “culture” decade. This organisational culture “movement” has been seen as part of a wider change of direction in managerial theory, led by the so‐called “new management thinkers”. Very briefly, organisational culture is usually seen as the “atmosphere” of the organisation, or the attitudes, feelings and beliefs of employees. Others have suggested that it conveys to employees “the way things are done around here”.

This paper aims to investigate the relationships among repatriates' perceived psychological contract fulfillment, counterfactual thinking, and job attitudes.

The paper sampled 135 repatriates from 16 multinational companies (MNCs) in Taiwan through a survey questionnaire. The paper used hierarchical regression analyses to test its hypotheses.

The study results showed that repatriates' perceived fulfillment of their psychological contracts was negatively related to turnover intent and positively related to organizational commitment, after controlling for the variables of change assessments. The study also finds a positive relationship between upward counterfactual thinking and turnover intent and between downward counterfactual thinking and organizational commitment. Moreover, repatriates' perceived fulfillment of their psychological contracts was found to be related to upward counterfactual thinking but not downward counterfactual thinking.

A subjective perception of psychological contract fulfillment is a more important predictor of job attitudes than actual changes in position, pay, and skill improvement. Therefore, it is important for MNCs to maintain open communications with their repatriates to ensure clear understanding of the agreement existing between employees and the organization.

In the international human resource literature, it is unclear whether the relationship between expatriates' (or repatriates') perceived fulfillment of their psychological contract with their job attitudes are simply due to their assessments of actual changes in pay, position, and skills. In the case of repatriation, the paper clarifies the phenomenon by distinguishing both repatriates' assessments of changes before and after expatriation and their perceived fulfillment of psychological contracts (and their counterfactual thinking).