Developing human resource competencies: an empirical evidence

The paper conceptually defines and empirically investigates the density of work experience along with individual characteristics (cognitive ability, Conscientiousness, and Openness to Experience) and examine their influence on Human Resource (HR) competencies. 274 HR executives from diverse industry background and their supervisors participated in the data collection efforts spread over three phases. Data analyses revealed three key findings (i) executives’ density of work experience positively relates to HR competencies, (ii) executives’ cognitive ability is the strongest predictor of the positive relationship to HR competencies, and (iii) executives with high Conscientiousness tend to achieve levels of density of work experience. Relative weight analyses reinforce that cognitive ability and density of work experience are the most prominent predictors of HR competencies. Implications for practice are discussed.     

Urban bird conservation: presenting stakeholder-specific arguments for the development of bird-friendly cities

Following the call from the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity “Cities & Biodiversity Outlook” project to better preserve urban biodiversity, this paper presents stakeholder-specific statements for bird conservation in city environments. Based upon the current urban bird literature we focus upon habitat fragmentation, limited habitat availability, lack of the native vegetation and vegetation structure as the most important challenges facing bird conservation in cities. We follow with an overview of the stakeholders in cities, and identify six main groups having the greatest potential to improve bird survival in cities: i) urban planners, urban designers and (landscape) architects, ii) urban developers and engineers, iii) homeowners and tenants, iv) companies and industries, v) landscaping and gardening firms, vi) education professionals. Given that motivation to act positively for urban birds is linked to stakeholder-specific advice, we present ten statements for bird-friendly cities that are guided by an action perspective and argument for each stakeholder group. We conclude with a discussion on how the use of stakeholder-specific arguments can enhance and rapidly advance urban bird conservation action.