I wouldn’t mind moving actually: Exploring Student Mobility in Northern Ireland

This article examines orientations towards future geographical mobility amongst young people in Northern Ireland presently studying at third level educational institutions. Following contextualisation of youth mobility as pertaining to students in this region, the results of recent quantitative and qualitative research are discussed. Over half of these young people, 55 per cent, see themselves living outside Northern Ireland at some point in the future. Furthermore, in response to a number of statements on family relationships, peer associations and community attachments, young people with mobility intentions are found to be more likely to have families who support migration intentions. These potentially mobile young people also tend to have peers and siblings with prior experience of geographical mobility and show signs of being less deeply attached to their local communities and/or local identities. A number of qualitative case studies further illustrate the diversity of mobility orientations within the sample, ranging from those positively predisposed towards migration to those more averse to such movement.     

The future of HRD research: Strengths,weaknesses, opportunities,threats and actions

This article clarifies the boundaries of human resource development (HRD) with respect to other concepts frequently used and misused in HRD literature. Through a proposition, a set of criteria for human resources is presented. A cross-culture literature comparison of the criteria demonstrates the consistency of the connotation in two contrasting cultures. This study has important implications for HRD research, practice and continued theory development effort. It relates to the identity and distinctiveness of HRD discipline, as well as the domain of HRD research and practice.     

The UK research assessment exercise

Abstract

This article examines and critiques the UK research assessment exercise (RAE) and its implications for research and writing in HRD. It describes the process and identifies weaknesses in some of the concepts and related criteria applied in assessing and grading research outputs and in particular the notions of ‘international’ and ‘world class’ as standards against which to judge those outputs. The article argues that the process has detrimental effects for emerging subjects such as HRD, for those engaged in research in such subjects and for journals such as HRDI which are relatively new to business and management. It concludes that UK academics working in the field of HRD are mistaken if they allow the RAE to drive their research and choice of publications and outlets, and that it is important to support the journals which are playing a critical role in establishing the subject.     

How College Students Spend Their Time Communicating

This study sought to assess how college students spend their time communicating and what impact, if any, communications devices may be having on how that time is spent. Undergraduates (N=696) at four southeastern colleges were surveyed. Results revealed that listening comprises 55.4% of the total average communication day followed by reading (17.1%), speaking (16.1%), and writing (11.4%). Each of these communication behaviors includes some aspect of Internet use. College students spend as much time listening to media as they do engaged in interpersonal interactions. New technology is changing the way mediated communication activities are perceived. A different paradigm of expressive, receptive, and interactive communication is offered.     

Negative public attitudes towards gambling: findings from the 2007 British Gambling Prevalence Survey using a new attitude scale

A new 14-item scale of general attitudes towards gambling (the Attitudes Towards Gambling Scale: ATGS) was developed for use in the 2007 British Gambling Prevalence Survey. The development of the scale is described. Based on the responses of a representative sample of 8880 people of 16 years of age or more, evidence is presented of good internal reliability and statistically significant associations with a range of socio-demographic, own and family gambling and lifestyle variables. Overall, and in all sub-groups except the heaviest gamblers, attitudes were found to be negative: more people believed that gambling is foolish and dangerous, and of greater harm than benefit to families, communities and society as a whole, than the reverse. The majority, however, were against prohibition of gambling. Public opinion appears to be out of line with the view of gambling in Britain that lay behind the 2005 Gambling Act. It will be of interest to see whether attitudes change in the forthcoming years. The ATGS is a suitable measure for use in future surveys in the UK and in other English speaking countries.     

Essentially Political

The purpose of this article is to examine the gendered politics of social work in the Indian city of Mumbai, locating it in a post-colonial context. In order to do this secondary sources are examined along with empirical data collected by the authors. These are interpreted through the framework of a social constructionist methodology that draws on political sociology as well as elements of post-colonial theory and Foucauldian post-structuralism in order to acknowledge agency within a ‘location’ marked by both constraints and opportunities. The article explores the circumstances in which politicians and administrators find themselves in Mumbai. In considering gender and developing a strategy of what we term ‘political essentialism’, it is shown that those involved have been drawing on experiences in civil society and using imagined dualisms of gender to position themselves as shapers of social work in Mumbai.     

Resource Immobility and Sustained Performance: A Systematic Assessment of How Immobility Has Been Considered in Empirical Resource‐based Studies

The core notion of the resource‐based view (RBV) is that the possession of certain resources can result in superior performance and, in order for this performance to be sustained, these resources cannot be perfectly mobile. Whereas previous reviews have mainly focused on the relationship between resources and temporary performance, no studies have systematically analyzed the extent to which empirical RBV studies have specifically considered immobility of resources. By analyzing a sample of 218 empirical RBV studies, the authors found that 17% of the studies directly measured some dimension of immobility (by, for example, actually measuring the level of social complexity, unique history, tacitness or tradability). Fewer than 2% of the studies measured the outcome of resource immobility, i.e. sustained performance differences. Based on these results, this paper discusses the consequences of overlooking this key dimension of the RBV (i.e. immobility) and suggests that, and discusses how, future research should consider resource immobility to a greater extent.