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Agency theory is primarily concerned with the relationship between the principal (employer/purchaser) and the agent (employee/contractor) in the issue of goal‐aligned behavior. Jensen and Meckling and others were not referring to a knowledge worker agent in their conceptualization of the principal/agent relationship. The significance of having a knowledge worker agent is that the decision rights are no longer located with the principal but with the agent. This in turn has a tremendous bearing on goal alignment and agency problems. We propose that information systems/information technology (IS/IT), in particular enterprise wide systems, can alleviate these agency problems. We illustrate this through a case example from health care, an industry with a high proportion of knowledge worker agents.

This study explores the reasons behind the popularity of majoring in Public Relations as opposed to Journalism or Digital Media among mass communications undergraduates in Oman. It attempts to gain insight into the factors influencing students’ decision-making process in selecting their major. It explores factors such as choice of major and sources of information that shape students’ knowledge and perception of the majors, using variables such as knowledge of job market, knowledge of curriculum, information sources and personal influences shaping major choice and selection. The study confirms that perception of the job market is a crucial factor in the selection of the majors. It also reveals that family plays a crucial role in influencing students’ decision-making process while choosing a major. The study concludes that strengthening the role of the academic advisor and educating students on course content and learning outcomes can increase the acceptance of less popular majors among communication undergraduates. The study is relevant in the context that the falling numbers of student enrolments in some areas of media studies could lead to a decline in teaching and research activities in those areas, in addition to a possible shortfall of specific skilled professionals in the national labour market pool.

The Unified Modeling Language has become an alternative to traditional modeling languages such as data flow diagrams for use in systems analysis. A modeling language is used to represent an information system so that analysts can use the model to make decisions about the design of the system and to communicate with stakeholders about the system. This study examines the comparative effectiveness of the UML and traditional modeling languages in communicating information about a system design. The study examines this on three types of individuals: individuals with no knowledge of either modeling language, individuals with no knowledge of either language that were provided training in one of the languages, and individuals that have had more extensive training in one of the languages. The study finds that there is no difference in the ability to communicate system design information between the languages for the first two types of individuals. However, the study finds that, for more extensively trained individuals, systems modeled with the UML are better able to communicate information about the data in the system while systems modeled with traditional languages are better able to communicate information about the process used by the system.

The evolution of Wikipedia betrays an increasing reliance on policies and guidelines, signalling certain stabilisation in the knowledge making processes underlying the encyclopaedia. We interpret such a state of affairs as reflecting the need to provide a few principles and guidelines of coordination, in a context that has otherwise been marked by vast diversity, high membership turnover and the lack of traditional exploitative structures. Rather than reflecting bureaucratisation and a shift away from its constitutive principles, the consolidation of these coordinative mechanisms further embeds the distinctive profile of knowledge making processes characteristic of the online encyclopaedia. They reinforce the diversity of the collective (rather than individual capabilities and skills) as the primary source of knowledge and render the mechanisms of harvesting that diversity and assembling it to a reasonable knowledge output key means of social learning.

The purpose of this article is to examine the information culture of a medium-sized municipality in Belgium. Public information/records is/are one of the most important instruments of citizens' control of public authorities. The principle of Public Access gives citizens a right to access public records, while the Privacy Act protects the integrity of the citizens. Municipalities are institutions that intensely interact with the citizens. Therefore, the way they handle the information that is generated during this interaction is of crucial importance to the efficient service delivery, safeguarding the rights of the citizens that they serve and for sustaining the open governance structure that promotes the principles of accountability and transparency.

The author employed a case study approach in order to establish the attitudes and norms the organizational employees had towards the management of information/records. She also applied the information culture assessment framework developed by Oliver during the design of the research questions.

Information culture affects the way public information/records are managed. Though investments are being made in information systems to facilitate the capture and management of information/records, the people issues are equally as crucial. E-Government development will require an information culture that promotes effective creation, use and management of information, if its goal of efficient and transparent public administrations is to be achieved.

The originality of this study lies in the application of the information culture assessment framework that was developed by Oliver. The framework facilitates the formulation of questions using its three layers to tease out the information required by a researcher in an attempt to draw conclusions regarding the attitudes, norms and the value the interviewees attach to information/records.

This paper aims to explore current sustainable facilities management knowledge and practice, focussing specifically on sustainable waste management implementation in health-care facilities with an aim to conceptualize a framework for assessing performance and impact of successful implementation of safe and sustainable health-care waste management on health-care provision.

This paper used a review of existing literature in relation to health-care waste management in the context of sustainable facilities management and facilities management performance and forms a basis for further research.

The growing significance of the strategic role of facilities management is established. Building on this recognition, a conceptual framework for assessing both implementation of sustainable facilities management practice in the context of waste management in health-care facilities and its impact on health-care provision is proposed.

This paper conceptualizes a framework for optimizing safe and sustainable waste management implementation in health-care facilities and assessing its impact on the bottom-line of health-care provision.

Public sector organisations in the developing world contexts have hugely invested in procuring information management systems such as the electronic document and records management system (EDRMS). The procurement and implementation of these systems come at a huge cost to taxpayers. Unfortunately, most of these systems remain white elephants due to reluctance by the anticipated users to adopt and use them in their information management endeavours. This study aims to understand Action Officers’ perceptions of, adoption and/or usage of the document workflow management system (DWMS) at the Ministry of Trade and Industry in Botswana. The DWMS is one type of EDRMS.

The survey uses a questionnaire distributed in Gaborone, Botswana to gather data on the perceptions of anticipated users of the DWMS. The study used a modified form of UTAUT as a theoretical lens to explore user’s perception on the adoption and use of DWMS at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Botswana. The population of the study was 68. A total of 53 (86.89 per cent) out of 61 users of DWMS were purposively sampled and responded to the questionnaire. The rest took part in interviews.

Negative attitudes to computers, computer anxiety, the complexity of DWMS and its incompatibility to current working practices influences Action and Records Officers’ unwillingness to adopt and use the DWMS.

This study was limited to the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI)’s Department of Corporate Services, so its findings cannot be statistically generalized to the MTI as a whole. Another limitation relates to the secretive nature of staff in some government departments which lead them to provide partial information related to the study. Finally, the additional technology adoption factors discovered from interviews (i.e. computer anxiety, incompatibility of DWMS to current work practices, negative attitudes to system use and complexity of the system) have not been empirically tested to ascertain their validity. This provides an opportunity for a future study to empirically test the said additional factors.

To mitigate the lower DWMS adoption and usage, robust change management and communication were identified as some of the critical factors that should be considered. The identified factors may be used in drafting a model to aid the implementation of DWMS in Botswana or in a contextually similar environment in the developing world.

This study provides empirical evidence from an original study.

This paper aims to develop an effective information security policy (ISP), which is an important mechanism to combat insider threats.

A general framework based on the Nine-Five-circle was proposed for developing, implementing and evaluating an organisation's ISP.

The proposed framework outlines the steps involved in developing, implementing and evaluating a successful ISP.

The study took place in Germany, and most of the data was collected virtually due to the different locations of the organisation.

In practice, this study can be a guide for managers to design a robust ISP that employees will read and follow.

Employee compliance with the ISP is a critical aspect in any organisation and therefore a rigorous strategy based on a systematic approach is required.

The main contribution of the paper is the application of a comprehensive and coherent model that can be the first step in defining a “checklist” for creating and managing ISPs.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical, reflective examination of the organisation, delivery and evaluation of a training event conducted by postgraduate students undertaking a module on human resource development.

The paper seeks to offer a triangulation of semi‐structured interviews, archival student written reflective accounts of the training event together with oral narrative from past participants on the module.

This paper examines the form and nature of a training event used as part of an assessment strategy on the human resource development (HRD) module of the MBA programme at the University of Abertay. The findings document the meanings and multiple realities that the participants ascribe to the training event. The interactional variable inherent in the informal and formal dichotomy of learning are also illustrated. Finally, the process of empowerment and reflection for all learners leads to a range of outcomes beyond the fulfilment of the assessment task.

The study is exploratory and the authors do not attempt to assess the generalisability of the findings.

The significance of the assessment of the training event lies in the manner of its execution and the involvement of the postgraduate student learners. It is anticipated that the wider dissemination of the practice is deemed to be in the interests of the HRD community.

The paper highlights an innovative approach to the teaching and learning of human resource development at postgraduate level.