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dding dopants to a powder bed could be a cost-effective method for spatially varying the material properties in laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) or for evaluating new materials and processing relationships. However, these additions may impact the selection of processing parameters. Furthermore, these impacts may be different when depositing nanoparticles into the powder bed than when the same composition is incorporated into the powder particles as by ball milling of powders or mixing similarly sized powders. This study aims to measure the changes in the single bead characteristics with laser power, laser scan speed, laser spot size and quantity of zirconia nanoparticle dopant added to SS 316 L powder.

A zirconia slurry was inkjet-printed into a single layer of 316 SS powder and dried. Single bead experiments were conducted on the composite powder. The line type (continuous vs balling) and the melt pool geometry were compared at various levels of zirconia doping.

The balling regime expands dramatically with the zirconia dopant to both higher and lower energy density values indicating the presence of multiple physical mechanisms that influence the resulting melt track morphology. However, the energy density required for continuous tracks was not impacted as significantly by zirconia addition. These results suggest that the addition of dopants may alter the process parameter ranges suitable for the fabrication of high-quality parts.

This work provides new insight into the potential impact of material doping on the ranges of energy density values that form continuous lines in single bead tests. It also illustrates a potential method for spatially varying material composition for process development or even part optimization in powder bed fusion without producing a mixed powder that cannot be recycled.

The design of work has been shown to influence a host of attitudinal, behavioral, cognitive, well-being, and organizational outcomes. Despite its clear importance, scholarly interest in the topic has diminished over the past 20 years. Fortunately, a recent body of research has sought to reenergize research into work design by expanding our view of work design from a narrow set of motivational work features to one that incorporates broader social and contextual elements. In this chapter we seek to review the literature on work design and develop a framework that integrates both job and team design research. We begin by briefly reviewing the history of work design in order to provide needed historical context and illustrate the evolution of job and team design. We then define work design, particularly as it relates to incorporating job and team design elements and transitioning from a view of jobs to one of roles. Following this, we identify a comprehensive set of work design outcomes that provide the basis for understanding the impact that different work characteristics can have on individuals and teams. We then offer an extended discussion of our integrative model of work design, which includes three sources of work characteristics (task, social, and contextual) and the worker characteristics implied by these characteristics. Having defined the range of work and worker characteristics, we then discuss some of the fit and composition issues that arise when designing work, as well as discuss the mechanisms through which the work characteristics have their impact on outcomes. Finally, we discuss research into informal forms of work design.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the university teaching staff’s perception about functions, benefits and barriers of human resource information system (HRIS). It also aims to explore the relevance of attitudinal/demographic diversity with focused HRIS dimensions.

A 26-item questionnaire was developed on the basis of similar research studies. Responses were collected through electronic mail from 90 faculty members of seven state universities in India. Descriptive statistics along with t-test and analysis of variance were used to answer the research questions.

The results of the study reported that HRIS is mostly used for administrative purpose and not taken as strategic requirement. Results also revealed that the perceived functions, benefits and barriers in adoption of HRIS do not vary group-wise.

The findings of the study potentially can help in developing and implementing of HRIS in similar types of organizations.

Past literature on HRIS mainly comes from the developed countries and is confined to for-profit organizations. The present study is among the few that coherently took up the issue from non-profit organizations, i.e. universities of a developing country.

Information and communications technology (ICT) offers enormous opportunities for individuals, businesses and society. The application of ICT is equally important to economic and non-economic activities. Researchers have increasingly focused on the adoption and use of ICT by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as the economic development of a country is largely dependent on them. Following the success of ICT utilisation in SMEs in developed countries, many developing countries are looking to utilise the potential of the technology to develop SMEs. Past studies have shown that the contribution of ICT to the performance of SMEs is not clear and certain. Thus, it is crucial to determine the effectiveness of ICT in generating firm performance since this has implications for SMEs’ expenditure on the technology. This research examines the diffusion of ICT among SMEs with respect to the typical stages from innovation adoption to post-adoption, by analysing the actual usage of ICT and value creation. The mediating effects of integration and utilisation on SME performance are also studied. Grounded in the innovation diffusion literature, institutional theory and resource-based theory, this study has developed a comprehensive integrated research model focused on the research objectives. Following a positivist research paradigm, this study employs a mixed-method research approach. A preliminary conceptual framework is developed through an extensive literature review and is refined by results from an in-depth field study. During the field study, a total of 11 SME owners or decision-makers were interviewed. The recorded interviews were transcribed and analysed using NVivo 10 to refine the model to develop the research hypotheses. The final research model is composed of 30 first-order and five higher-order constructs which involve both reflective and formative measures. Partial least squares-based structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) is employed to test the theoretical model with a cross-sectional data set of 282 SMEs in Bangladesh. Survey data were collected using a structured questionnaire issued to SMEs selected by applying a stratified random sampling technique. The structural equation modelling utilises a two-step procedure of data analysis. Prior to estimating the structural model, the measurement model is examined for construct validity of the study variables (i.e. convergent and discriminant validity).

The estimates show cognitive evaluation as an important antecedent for expectation which is shaped primarily by the entrepreneurs’ beliefs (perception) and also influenced by the owners’ innovativeness and culture. Culture further influences expectation. The study finds that facilitating condition, environmental pressure and country readiness are important antecedents of expectation and ICT use. The results also reveal that integration and the degree of ICT utilisation significantly affect SMEs’ performance. Surprisingly, the findings do not reveal any significant impact of ICT usage on performance which apparently suggests the possibility of the ICT productivity paradox. However, the analysis finally proves the non-existence of the paradox by demonstrating the mediating role of ICT integration and degree of utilisation explain the influence of information technology (IT) usage on firm performance which is consistent with the resource-based theory. The results suggest that the use of ICT can enhance SMEs’ performance if the technology is integrated and properly utilised. SME owners or managers, interested stakeholders and policy makers may follow the study’s outcomes and focus on ICT integration and degree of utilisation with a view to attaining superior organisational performance.

This study urges concerned business enterprises and government to look at the environmental and cultural factors with a view to achieving ICT usage success in terms of enhanced firm performance. In particular, improving organisational practices and procedures by eliminating the traditional power distance inside organisations and implementing necessary rules and regulations are important actions for managing environmental and cultural uncertainties. The application of a Bengali user interface may help to ensure the productivity of ICT use by SMEs in Bangladesh. Establishing a favourable national technology infrastructure and legal environment may contribute positively to improving the overall situation. This study also suggests some changes and modifications in the country’s existing policies and strategies. The government and policy makers should undertake mass promotional programs to disseminate information about the various uses of computers and their contribution in developing better organisational performance. Organising specialised training programs for SME capacity building may succeed in attaining the motivation for SMEs to use ICT. Ensuring easy access to the technology by providing loans, grants and subsidies is important. Various stakeholders, partners and related organisations should come forward to support government policies and priorities in order to ensure the productive use of ICT among SMEs which finally will help to foster Bangladesh’s economic development.

It has been argued that behavioural models of technology acceptance do not serve equally across cultures. This study aims to extend technology acceptance model (TAM) to suit in a developing country context. The model attempts to identify the relationship between social norms, management support and moderating factors voluntariness and experience.

The study used a quantitative methodology to investigate the correlational paths. A cross‐sectional survey was completed by 504 academics working in higher educational institutes of Pakistan. The data were analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM) based on partial least squares (PLS) methods.

The extended model achieved acceptable fit and most of the hypothesised paths were significant. Determinant perceived usefulness was an important construct of the internet acceptance, i.e. R²=34 per cent more than behavioural intention. Moderator experience diminished the impact of usefulness on behaviour usage.

The findings suggest that expecting acceptance behaviour from individuals on the basis of only TAM's constructs is not enough for introducing new IT technologies. The study reveals that an individual's perceptions are formed/changed through attitudinal and social beliefs, along with management support and usage experience.

The study is useful in non‐western cultural contexts. Specifically, in contrast to previous studies, diversity of individuals' acceptance behaviour is examined within a single south‐Asian country's context.

This chapter overviews the articulation of inquiry in the three International Baccalaureate (IB) levels, Primary Years (ages 3–12), Middle Years (11–16), and the Diploma Program (16–18) that is widely accepted by universities for matriculation. It reviews inquiry-based instruction in the publicly available IB research literature. The IB advocates inquiry as its pedagogical approach. We identified empirical classroom research involving IB teachers or students from four databases; 35 reports matched inclusion criteria and 31 of these had appeared in gifted-education journals. The IB’s inquiry philosophy, interdisciplinary emphasis, and specific elements in the Diploma Program such as the Theory of Knowledge course, a program entitled Creativity, Action, and Service, and the Extended Essay, comprise qualities that should inform higher education. There has been disproportionate attention to the planning part of inquiry (e.g., generating worthy questions and deciding how to answer them) versus enactment or reflection; this leaves room for other research input about enacting inquiry in university instruction that creates a cycle of creative engagement. Successful IB experiences, through some of the IB pedagogy and content, raised learners’ expectations about their higher education learning experiences. However, as one moves from the Primary Years through to the Diploma Program, students report increasing “teaching to the test” and content-coverage that constrain inquiry opportunities students value. The importance of providing detailed, supportive, step-by-step introductions to inquiry, and attending to the social and emotional correlates of the substantive learning, were highlighted.

Wireless Internet via mobile devices (WIMD) is leading the world into another spectrum of communications and means of conducting day‐to‐day business and life activities. Full bloom of wireless Internet services depends on user acceptance, as well as technology improvement. This paper develops a technology acceptance model for wireless Internet via mobile devices (TAM for wireless Internet), a conceptual framework to explain the factors influencing user acceptance of WIMD. By revising the technology acceptance model (TAM) to represent some unique features of the wireless system under study, TAM for wireless Internet proposes that constructs such as individual differences, technology complexity, facilitating conditions, social influences, and wireless trust environment determine user‐perceived short and long‐term usefulness, and ease of using WIMD. These, in turn, determine user intention and willingness to adopt WIMD. Twelve propositions are developed to promote and facilitate future empirical research relating to WIMD.

Industrial sociologists and psychologists have often paid little more than scant attention to the actual work of the people they have been studying. The literature is full of brief comments about the work situation which lack both data and an analytical framework. This deficiency is surprising. Work content has been shown to have a significant impact on behaviour, morale, and productivity in the workplace. The purpose of job design research is to seek to understand this relationship more clearly and then to use research‐based insights to create jobs which are more satisfying to perform, and more efficient in performance. As such this body of knowledge should be a subject of particular relevance for personnel specialists since job content considerations should affect recruitment, training, placement and effort‐reward policies. However, although job content has very wide repercussions for the personnel area, job design is frequently left by default to the technical and engineering specialists, who seek to make their work system function effectively in production rather than human terms.

The commonly used e-procurement systems still show unsatisfactory implementation outcomes because many organisations are still unable to effectively interpret the initial adoption decision. The e-procurement systems are generally developed at organisational level, but their usage is at individual level, by the employees particularly. This paper examined technology acceptance model’s (TAM) key antecedents, involving e-procurement systems usage by employees in their daily activities. This study aims to examine the impact of factors affecting e-procurement acceptance among users through the mediating role of users’ attitude. The commonly used e-procurement systems still show.

TAM was applied and expanded in this study, in exploring the factors impacting the employees’ e-procurement acceptance. This study used quantitative method, and questionnaires were distributed to 200 users in Jordanian public shareholding firms. The collected data were quantitatively analysed using PLS modelling.

Significant TAM relationships involving e-procurement were affirmed. The expanded TAM in the scrutiny of antecedents showed that content, processing and usability affected perceived usefulness, while perceived convenience did not affect the usefulness factor. Furthermore, it was noticed that perceived ease of use was affected by usability and training, while perceived connectedness was not affected by usability and training.

The results demonstrated the necessity of e-procurement training. Furthermore, at the start of the implementation stage, effective design on system navigation and system usability, and consistent support, could increase use effectiveness and acceptance. Also, expedient information and buyer–supplier product flows should be made available.

Most organizations invest a lot of time and money in installing e-procurement systems to deliver their goods at the right time and at the right price. However, many of these e-procurement systems have failed due to low acceptance among users. Thus, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that used TAM and theory of planned behaviour in examining the effects of perceived convenience, perceived connectedness, content, training, processing and usability factors, in Jordanian firms. Lastly, the focus of this study was on the individual employee’s acceptance, rather than on the organisational-level adoption, as the unit of analysis, to provide insight on how organisations can achieve maximally from e-procurement investments and from other comparable technologies of e-supply chain management.