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Examines the tenth published year of the ITCRR. Runs the whole gamut of textile innovation, research and testing, some of which investigates hitherto untouched aspects. Subjects discussed include cotton fabric processing, asbestos substitutes, textile adjuncts to cardiovascular surgery, wet textile processes, hand evaluation, nanotechnology, thermoplastic composites, robotic ironing, protective clothing (agricultural and industrial), ecological aspects of fibre properties – to name but a few! There would appear to be no limit to the future potential for textile applications.

This paper compares the technical support-related experiences with the expectations of librarians using open source Integrated Library Systems (ILS).

A combination of surveys and triangulating interviews was conducted to obtain the results presented.

The results of this study indicate that there are many channels of technical support available to librarians who use open source ILS. Also, these channels of technical support perform at acceptable levels according to the expectations of librarians using open source software.

The results presented in this study are self-reported expectations and experiences of librarians and not observed experiences.

The results from this study will provide an insight to librarians contemplating adoption or migration to open source ILS. The results presented here will be useful in decision-making as well as developing a strategy for technical support based on the presented options.

The interest in open source ILS has been observed and studied in the last decade, but the technical support of open source systems, which is a critical component of the adoption process, has not received much attention. This paper focuses specifically on the technical support for open source ILS and provides insight into the experiences of librarians.

This paper aims to provide an understanding of influencing motivation and volition in the transfer of learning within the context of technical training in different countries by controlling predictors.

In six countries, employees from one automotive company’s service centres were asked to complete two online questionnaires after a blended learning training program with technical content (t1: 7 to 12 days after the training, t2: 5 to 7 weeks after). In total, 441 technical staff members participated.

Results suggest that motivation and volition mediate the effects of peer support, content validity and supervisor support on training transfer after a technical training. The outcomes show that peer support has an important influence on motivation and that national culture is less important than company culture.

The results should be tested further in different trainings, companies and countries.

This is one of the first international studies to confirm peer support and content validity as predictors for motivation to transfer after technical training. It is also the first instance of exploring possible mediation by motivation and volition on peer support and content validity after technical training in an intercultural context.

This study proposes targeted modernization of the Department of Defense (DoD's) Joint Forces Ammunition Logistics information system by implementing the optimized innovative information technology open architecture design and integrating Radio Frequency Identification Device data technologies and real-time optimization and control mechanisms as the critical technology components of the solution. The innovative information technology, which pursues the focused logistics, will be deployed in 36 months at the estimated cost of $568 million in constant dollars. We estimate that the Systems, Applications, Products (SAP)-based enterprise integration solution that the Army currently pursues will cost another $1.5 billion through the year 2014; however, it is unlikely to deliver the intended technical capabilities.

Improving digital work experience is critical for the job performance of individuals and the competitiveness of organizations due to their increasing use. This paper investigates how organization support affects the digital work experience of individuals differently depending on their levels of information technology (IT) identity.

Drawing upon the IT identity literature and the conservation of resources (COR) theory, a conceptual model is developed, tested and validated using the data collected in Australia through an experimental design in which IT identity is manipulated.

This study reveals a nuanced impact of organization support on shaping digital work experience. Specifically, it finds that technical support is more effective in improving the digital work experience of individuals with a high level of IT identity, whereas well-being support is more effective in enhancing the digital work experience of individuals with a low level of IT identity.

This research contributes to the IT identity literature by introducing a novel experimental design to manipulate IT identity in the digital work context. It also contributes to the digital work literature by introducing a resource perspective for identifying well-being support, technical support and IT identity as the key resources in shaping digital work experience and calling for attention to IT identity as a boundary condition on the effectiveness of organization support. The findings can help organizations formulate better strategies and policies to improve digital work experience by providing tailored support to individuals with different levels of IT identity.

In India, the COVID-19 outbreak has been declared an epidemic in all its states and union territories. To combat COVID-19, lockdown was imposed on March 25, 2020 which has adversely affected the education system in the country. It has changed the traditional education system to the educational technologies (EdTechs) model, where teaching and assessments are conducted online. This paper aims to identify the barriers faced by teachers during online teaching and assessment in different home environment settings in India.

Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) of qualitative research methodology has been used in this research. The study was conducted among the teachers working in the government and private universities of Uttarakhand, India. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted among 19 teachers to collect data regarding the barriers faced by them during online teaching and assessment. ATLAS.ti, version 8 was used to analyze the interview data.

The findings revealed four categories of barriers that are faced by teachers during online teaching and assessments. Under home environment settings, a lack of basic facilities, external distraction and family interruption during teaching and conducting assessments were major issues reported. Institutional support barriers such as the budget for purchasing advanced technologies, a lack of training, a lack of technical support and a lack of clarity and direction were also reported. Teachers also faced technical difficulties. The difficulties were grouped under a lack of technical support, it included a lack of technical infrastructure, limited awareness of online teaching platforms and security concerns. Teachers’ personal problems including a lack of technical knowledge, negative attitude, course integration with technology and a lack of motivation are identified as the fourth category to damper their engagement in online teaching and assessments.

The findings of the study can be helpful to the regulatory authorities and employers of higher education institutions who are planning to adopt online teaching as a regular activity in the future. The insights gained from the findings can help them to revisit their existing policy frameworks by designing new strategies and technical structures to assist their teachers in successfully embracing the EdTech to deal with any crisis in the future.

Many authors have conducted research to address the problems faced by students related to online teaching and learning during COVID-19 in India. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that addresses the challenges faced by teachers during the online teaching and assessment in the home environment settings by using qualitative analysis (IPA) techniques. The current study replenishes the gap by contributing to the literature of online teaching and assessment under the home environment settings during the pandemic situation.

The purpose of this paper is to advance our understanding of the concept of system usage and identify determinants at the organizational level that are attributable to the extent of system usage in the post‐adoptive and compulsory milieu.

The paper intends to examine the organizational intervention on system usage extent. Unlike previous studies, this research adopts a feature‐centered approach to examine the construct of system usage extent, and proposes that organizational supports such as management support and technical support impact the individual system usage extent.

Results show that technical support from the organization, specifically technical assistance and technical consulting channels, have a positive impact on system usage extent; however, management support does not show a significant effect. A post hoc analysis is conducted in an attempt to explicate the relationships between organization interventions and the feature usage of particular systems.

The paper has the following implications. First, this study discusses system usage extent from a feature‐centered perspective and develops a method to assess the degree of system usage. Second, the scheme for evaluating system usage extent developed in our study can be used to measure the actual system usage. Lastly, an ad hoc correlation analysis was performed to provide a detailed understanding of the relationship between organizational initiatives.

The purpose of the paper is to examine the impact of human-related support practices, total productive maintenance (TPM) practices, and total quality management (TQM) practices on manufacturing performance parameters and their inter-relationship.

A research project was carried out in 94 Indian manufacturing companies, using the questionnaire method. The survey data was drawn from 169 respondents working in these companies. In this paper, the impact of TPM and TQM practices on manufacturing performance parameters and especially the role of support practices is investigated empirically using various structural equation models.

Two factors namely top management and leadership and human resource development categorized as support practices were found to positively influence the adoption of technical practices, i.e., TPM and TQM practices. Hence support practices were found to indirectly affect the manufacturing performance parameters via the technical factors. Also analyzing various structural equation models (SEM), shop floor implementation of TPM practices were found to be influenced (or guided) by the philosophy of TQM practices. In other words, through the proper adoption of TQM practices, the effectiveness of TPM practices gets increased.

Because of the chosen research approach, the research results may lack generalizability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed propositions further using a case study approach.

The present study provides useful insights to practicing managers. The result of the study explaining the interrelationship between support practices (behavioral aspect) and technical practices can be used by practicing managers to develop a better understanding of the contribution of support and technical practices towards the realization of organizational objectives of growth and sustainability. In practice, TQM plays a great role in the adoption of TPM practices, which in turn helps to achieve quality in processes and therefore in products.

Previous research has often either concentrated on technical practices as one dimension without studying the effects of support practices on improving the adoption of technical practices. The results of the study take one step further by investigating the relationship between multiple aspects (support and technical aspects) of manufacturing practices and their impact on manufacturing performance.

Large private organisations (LPOs) creating entrepreneurship opportunities for people at the base of the economic pyramid (BoP) is a thought-provoking issue for researchers. The main purpose of this paper is to empirically explore the influence of support from LPOs on entrepreneurship business success among the BoP segment through entrepreneurial competencies.

The paper follows a quantitative research approach. Data were collected from a sample of 134 BoP entrepreneurs in Bangladesh using a structured survey instrument. Partial least square has been employed as a statistical technique to analyse the data.

The influence of support provided by LPOs, in terms of technical and training, increased entrepreneurial competencies among the BoP entrepreneurs. Further, entrepreneurial competencies contribute to the proliferation of the BoP entrepreneurship business success and play a mediating role to achieve business success as long as technical and training supports are provided.

It is expected that business organisations can embrace this framework as a business model and contribute to the social initiatives.

This paper invokes research on the entrepreneurship domain particularly focusing on the BoP segment of the society. The significant relationship between support of LPOs and success of small-scale entrepreneurship business can be viewed as a novel contribution in BoP domain.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the factors that aid e-training adoption in the Nigerian civil service.

This paper is based on a review of past literature from databases, reports, newspapers, magazines, etc. The literature recognised the role of perceived cost, computer self-efficacy, availability of resources and perceived support in e-training adoption. Using technology acceptance model (TAM), this paper explained the importance of these variables in e-training adoption in developing country context.

The authors found that the combined role of perceived cost, computer self-efficacy, technological infrastructure, Internet facilities, power supply, organisational support, technical support and government support is critical for e-training adoption in developing countries, particularly in Nigeria. Thus, the authors proposed the combination of these variables which would encourage future research on the use of TAM in technology adoption.

This paper gives an elaboration of the role of computer self-efficacy, perceived cost, availability of resources and perceived support with TAM as base of the framework. This provides researchers the opportunity to test the proposed framework empirically and further suggest other variables that can aid e-training adoption in the context of developing country.

The result of this paper can serve as a guide to managers and policymakers to have a better understanding of the requirements for e-training adoption, especially in developing countries. This will go a long way towards designing good policies that could maximise e-training results.

This paper adds to the existing literature on e-training and TAM with the suggestion of proposed variables.