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Human resource (HR) process research emerged as a response to questions about how (bundles of) HR practices related to organizational outcomes. The goal of HR process research is to explain variability in employee and organization outcomes by focusing on how HR practices are intended (adopted) by senior managers, the way that these HR practices are implemented and communicated by line managers, and how employees perceive, understand, and attribute these HR practices. In the first part of this chapter, we present a review of 20 years of HR process research from the start, to how it developed, and is now maturing. Within the body of HR process research, several different research theoretical streams have emerged, which are largely studied in isolation without benefiting from each other. Therefore, in the second part of this chapter, we draw on previous work to propose a staged process model in which we integrate the different research streams of HR process research, recognizing contingencies in the model. This leads us to an agenda for future research and practical implications in the final part of the chapter.

The advances and continuous development of technology have been identified as significant influences on the accounting profession (AICPA, 1998). In the last twenty years, both academia and the accounting profession have been giving much attention to the demand and opportunity for audits to be performed automatically, continuously and in nearly real time. This paper presents a comprehensive review of continuous auditing research by providing an overview of the emergence and growth of the continuous auditing literature and classifying the extant continuous auditing research on the basis of four research characteristics indicated by a newly developed research taxonomy.

The advances and continuous development of technology have been identified as significant influences on the accounting profession (AICPA, 1998). In the last twenty years, both academia and the accounting profession have been giving much attention to the demand and opportunity for audits to be performed automatically, continuously and in nearly real time. This paper presents a comprehensive review of continuous auditing research by providing an overview of the emergence and growth of the continuous auditing literature and classifying the extant continuous auditing research on the basis of four research characteristics indicated by a newly developed research taxonomy.

With profound regret we have to record the death of Colonel Charles Edward Cassal, F.I.C., who passed away on Dec. 22nd at his residence in London. The sad news has only reached us at the moment—when we are going to press. We hope to publish in the January issue an appreciation of his life, his remarkable abilities, his high minded and lofty nature, and the beneficent work which he achieved in the interests of the profession which he so conspicuously adorned. Colonel Cassal was the founder of “The British Food Journal,” and, in addition to his multifarious official duties, he occupied for fifteen years the position of Editor of the Journal.

Through the medium of a case study of Birmingham’s ethnic minority‐owned independent restaurant sector, the nature of training in the firms, the reasons for informal training, and employees’ tolerance of harsh working conditions are examined. The reluctance of many small businesses to utilise formal programmes of training is confirmed. However, even in this sector, which is characterised by poor personnel practices, the importance of informal approaches to training and learning is noteworthy. Moreover, from the perspective of workers, employment in the ethnic minority business sector can be seen as a form of training in itself; it can constitute an “apprenticeship” for entrepreneurship rather than permanent entrapment in low‐paid work. However, the capacity to realise this goal is contingent upon the availability of class resources. Further research is needed to explore approaches to training in other sectors that ethnic minorities are engaged in.

Some historic observations With the exception of our prehistoric and primitive stone built ‘homes’ such as Chysauster and Cam Euny hut circles in Cornwall, the cromlechs, dolmens and stone circles at Avebury and Stonehenge, it was the Romans who introduced fine and sturdy stone construction into our country. The Anglo‐Saxons left many fragments of their crudely dressed stone towers and chancels of their churches, which have survived due to their robust construction. The timber construction of the Dark Ages gave way to stone again and to the gradual establishment of the craft of the stonemason.

Analyses the role of training in forming under‐employment, which is a basic characteristic of an institutional labour market. Compares the basic assumptions of an institutional labour market to those of a neoclassical labour market. Discusses in detail the institutional framework for on‐the‐job training. Finally, considers policy issues relating to job training.

There has been much debate in the literature regarding whether political pressures are beneficial or detrimental to public agencies’ performance and outcomes. This chapter explores under what conditions, if any, do political pressures have any positive effects.

A survey methodology and multivariate regression models are applied to assess the relationship between political pressures and public agencies’ performance and outcomes, using data from South-America and Europe. The theoretical scope is developed drawing from the public sector, management control, and goal-setting literatures.

The effects of political pressures on public agencies’ performance and public officers’ job satisfaction are moderated by technical certainty. At low levels of technical certainty political pressures have negative effects while at high levels they have positive effects.

All limitations of survey research apply.

Governments, public officers, and politicians should take into account the dynamics described in this study so as to limit the negative effects of political pressures and take advantage of the positive ones.

This is the first study to suggest that the effects of political pressures on public agencies vary depending on the nature of the task public agencies perform. The results reported here bring a new perspective to the literature, helping to clarify prior conflicting results. In addition, the fact that results are consistent for South American and European public agencies suggests that these findings might be generalizable across cultural boundaries.

This paper considers the classifications produced by application of the single linkage, complete linkage, group average and Ward clustering methods to the Keen and Cranfield document test collections. Experiments were carried out to study the structure of the hierarchies produced by the different methods, the extent to which the methods distort the input similarity matrices during the generation of a classification, and the retrieval effectiveness obtainable in cluster based retrieval. The results would suggest that the single linkage method, which has been used extensively in previous work on document clustering, is not the most effective procedure of those tested, although it should be emphasized that the experiments have used only small document test collections.

Self‐efficacy has been described as a malleable quality based on individual perceptions of ability in given situations and has repetitively been linked to performance gains and other positive organizational outcomes. Less research has addressed the processes that shape individual efficacy levels. This article explores the role of emotional intelligence and causal reasoning patterns in the development of self‐efficacy beliefs. A research model is forwarded along with associated propositions. Lastly, the implications, limitations, and future research directions of this research are discussed.