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The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of the factors that influence the innovative power of organisations. The concept of innovation and innovative power was examined by analysing the relationship between the construct of the learning organisation, knowledge organisation and innovative organisation, and has resulted in an innovation process model. This model consists of three processes: knowledge creation, innovation and learning to learn. The factors that might influence this cycle are: added value for stakeholders, leadership, climate, structure and strategic alignment.

This is an exploratory study that was conducted at Océ Technologies in The Netherlands.The case study consisted of a qualitative and a quantitative stage and comprised a selection of two innovation projects separated in time. The purpose of the first phase was to collect information about the innovation spiral, through interviews with members of three divisions in each innovation process. After this, a survey was designed and sent to all employees and managers of the three divisions involved in the two innovation cases.

On the basis of a data analysis, factors explaining variance in terms of innovation, learning and knowledge creation were identified. If innovation is discontinuous, the innovation spiral is not valid; if innovation has a strength in critical reflection on cases from the past to mould the future, the model has some explanatory power.

Using a survey technique to retrieve data from a current innovation experiment has a set of possible risks like maturation, forgetting, selection and a different context. Reflection and reconstruction, however, are the only possible means to achieve this. A case study does not guarantee generalisation of results.

By studying the model and the factors that can influence them, organisations understand that it is necessary to integrate their initiatives in organisational learning, knowledge creation and innovation for the benefit of the organisation, to find a better way to adjust to discontinuous change and finally gain innovative power.

Commitment of employees can be an important instrument for improving the performance of organizations. Based on international literature and studies, commitment has been defined as organizational and task commitment, and is related to personal, job and organizational characteristics. Intends to explore some important relations between the characteristics of commitment and organizational effects. Between commitment and the level of the organization the most important relations are a better communication and less illness; at the level of the individual employee the commitment to change and to take part very actively in change processes, bringing up new ideas, is important. These conclusions are in line with the literature. Commitment is strongly connected with colleagues and the style of management and could be seen as an important asset of the learning company.

Early in the 1990s, at the University of Twente it was felt that research was needed on the content of human resource development (HRD) jobs in Europe. In the USA such studies had been initiated by Nadler in the early 1980s. Studies that built on his work were “Models of excellence” and “Models for HRD practice”, both undertaken by the American Association for Training and Development (ASTD). The International Board of Standards for Training, Performance and Instruction studied the qualifications needed by training managers, training instructors and training evaluators. The only research done in Europe, as far as we know, was a large‐scale study by the Training & Development Lead Body, carried out in, and concentrating on, the UK. The University of Twente aims to contribute to a description of the HRD field in Europe by describing job profiles of European HRD practitioners in terms of tasks as well as roles. Additionally, a comparison between the role analyses in the USA and European countries is made to check the validity of the US‐roles for Europe. The outcomes will be helpful in defining job profiles and (in a later stage) developing standards for HRD practitioners, both of which are important elements in the development of a profession. The outcomes can be used by HRD practitioners in their individual development.

In the last ten years the computer‐based training (CBT) market has grown tremendously and the quality of the programmes has improved. Sound and vision have been added and educational technology has improved the design and structure. Nowadays keywords are just‐in‐time learning and learning by doing. For these CBT has had to be revised and integrated into the workplace. One way to integrate learning in the workplace is by using electronic performance support systems (EPSSs). EPSSs support workers with information, advice and training while they are doing their job. Reports the effectiveness of EPSSs. Evaluates some of the expected advantages of EPSSs, such as the increase in productivity and improved learning with insurance agents using laptop computers. Presents theoretical statements, research design and hypotheses. Relates the conclusion to the improvement in productivity and learner results.

The purpose of this article is to provide further insight into the relationship between supervisor support and transfer of training, by taking into account the effects of other transfer‐influencing factors in a systemic approach of the transfer process.

A review of studies on factors affecting transfer of training was conducted, with a specific focus on the effects of supervisor support, resulting in the development of a research model of the transfer process. All components of the model were measured by means of questionnaires for former trainees and their supervisors, and stepwise regression analyses were carried out to examine the relationships in the model.

Results indicate indirect relationships between supervisor support and transfer of training, by means of both trainees' motivation to transfer and the transfer climate. The indirect effect of supervisor support on transfer of training is only slight, however. Learning results are shown to be the strongest predictor of transfer of training.

Owing to the small sample size structural equation modelling techniques could not be used, thus limiting the possibility to test the model as a single entity. The use of perceptional measures implies the risk of response tendencies from trainees and supervisors. Further research using different measures and different timing of measurement during the training and transfer process is recommended.

Results of this study indicate that supervisor support that is intended to enhance transfer of training can best be directed at improvement of the transfer climate at the workplace.

The paper provides both researchers and practitioners with a further insight into the complex effects of supervisor support on transfer of training, indicating the importance of taking into account the effects of other transfer‐influencing factors.

In this paper critical reflective working behaviour will be operationalized. Second, the question will be raised which factors have impact on critical reflective working behaviour. The following dimensions of critical reflective working emerge: reflection, vision sharing, challenging group‐think, asking for feedback, experimentation and awareness of employability. In a survey amongst 742 respondents these dimensions are validated. Important influencing factors seem to be self‐efficacy and participation.

This editorial is an introduction to the special issue on CSR Communication attached to the second CSR Communication Conference held in Aarhus (Denmark) in September 2013. The purpose of this paper is to critically evaluate the role of CSR communication and the development of theory and practice of CSR Communication in recent years.

The editorial sets up a research agenda for the future, the premises outlined about the role of CSR communication being based on Habermas’ (1984) idea of instrumental/strategic and communicative action.

The theoretically based research shows that there are different framings of CSR. In the first framing, the business discourse is trying to institutionalize CSR and sustainability by pursuing CSR purely as a business case. In the second framing, alternative CSR discourses are challenging the business discourse, communication being oriented towards shared understanding.

The above findings are original insofar as they have implications for CSR communication scholars and practitioners. It is, for example, important that they acknowledge that two kinds of framings exist, and that they are interdependent. Hence, they should not fall into the trap of a critical discourse of suspicion where CSR communication is constantly criticized as a tool to serve business interests. In the context of strategic and/or communicative action, CSR communication occurs in different forms and for different purposes – either as informative, persuasive, aspirational and participatory type of CSR communication.

This paper, based on a publication entitled Facing up to the Learning Organisation Challenge, published in April 2003, provides an overview of the main questions emerging from recent European research projects related to the topic of the learning organisation. The rationale for focusing on this topic is the belief that the European Union goals related to “lifelong learning” and the creation of a “knowledge‐based society” can only be attained if the organisations in which people work are also organisations in which they learn. Work organisations must become, at the same time, learning organisations. This paper has four main messages. The first is that, in order to build learning organisations, one has to ensure that: there is coherence between the “tangible” (formal/objective) and the “intangible” (informal/subjective) dimensions of an organisation; and that the organisation's learning goals are reconciled with individuals’ learning needs. The complexity involved in ensuring the right balance between these different dimensions, means that in the final analysis one cannot realistically expect more than incomplete or imperfect learning organisations. However, this does not in any way negate the validity of the quest to reconcile these competing but “real” interests. The second message is that challenging or developmental work is a prerequisite for implementing a learning organisation. One of the keys to promoting learning organisations is to organise work in such a way that it promotes human development. The third message is that the provision of support and guidance is essential to ensure that developmental work does in fact provide opportunities for developmental learning. The fourth message is that to address organisational learning there is a need for boundary‐crossing and interdisciplinary partnerships between the vocational education and training and human resource development communities.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the history of the Dutch cooperative Rabobank to understand how the structure of an organisation determines how individual employees validate norms within that organisation.

Data over an approximately 10-year period starting 25 years ago are analysed, and the value of relating a historical analysis and narrative approach to ethical and institutional theories in economics and management science is demonstrated.

Regulation in the banking sector appears to have a strong normative aspect. The choice between state and private ownership is based on ideology. The author argues that the private ownership model was based primarily on an ideology surrounding economic efficiency, but that in fact there are other logics that also promote economic development. This contributes to the understanding of the interaction between sector standards, organisational structures and the values of organisations and individual employees. The structure of an organisation enables key employees to deviate slightly from the organisation’s prevailing norms in response to pressures from the wider environment, and those individuals thereby become symbols of that organisation.

The perspective on management history put forward in this paper enables assessing the distinction between normative notions in institutional environments and the organisation as a whole as represented in its governance structure and narratives that key employees disseminate about the organisation. This in turn helps us to understand the interaction between sector standards, organisational characteristics and values represented by individual employees. The author reveals the strong normative impact of banking regulation in line with an older ideological model focused on economic efficiency rather than market logics and the interests of society.