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At present, many countries have either embraced ISO9001 or used it as the basis of their national quality certification systems. However, few studies have been conducted to examine the benefits companies' gain from achieving and implementing ISO9001 standards (Chikuku et al. 2012; Psomas et al. 2013; Sampaio et al. 2011a,b). Analysis has brought much more confused and uneven results across the countries. Turning to the experience of Malaysia, this country has witnessed a spectacular growth at an average rate of 9.89% per annum of ISO certificates issued to companies operating within its borders (ISO Survey 2012). While many companies rush to be ISO 9001 certified whether this brings about better benefits (both the financial and the non-financial) is still an open question. In this study, the research problems were first formulated from the literature and then a questionnaire survey was conducted to test the hypotheses. A survey was administered to chief executives officers and managers across manufacturing and service organizations in Malaysia. Multivariate analysis and SPSS macro developed by Preacher and Hayes were used as statistical techniques to the financial and non-financial benefits of ISO9001 certification. The survey instrument was a two-page questionnaire comprising three sections. The first section of the questionnaire covered the company's profile. The second section consisted of 25 items on internal benefits and third section consisted of 7 items on external benefits measured on 1–5 Likert scale to assess the benefits of ISO9001 certification. Total 201 valid responses were received. Results of the study indicate that there was no significant direct relationship between ISO9001 certification and organizational financial performance, while strong statistical evidence was found to support the direct relationship between ISO9001 certification and non-financial performance. The findings of the study discovered that financial performance is actually directly related to two non-financial measures, namely quality performance and local and international business performance, which are directly and significantly influenced by ISO9001 certification. Therefore non-financial performance measures are involved in the mediational process. The findings will assist practitioners in taking right courses of action that make the implementation of this standard more effective. For example, the study findings study suggests that companies should put emphasize on nonfinancial factors to improve their financial performance.

Foreword / Maureen R. Weiss, PhD -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Part I. Relationships in Sport -- Chapter 1. Understanding the Coach-Athlete Relationship / Sophia Jowett, PhD, and Artur Poczwardowski, PhD ; Coach-Athlete Relationship Defined ; Importance of Studying Coach-Athlete Relationships ; Recent Conceptualizations of the Coach-Athlete Relationship ; Integrated Research Model ; Future Research ; Practical Implications ; Summary -- Chapter 2. Interdependence Analysis and the 3+1Cs in the Coach-Athlete Relationship / Sophia Jowett, PhD ; Interdependence Theory: Essential Elements in Dyadic Relationships ; 3+1Cs Conceptualization of the Coach-Athlete Relationship ; 3+1Cs Model and Interdependence Theory ; Future Research ; Practical Implications ; Summary -- Chapter 3. Interpersonal Communication and Conflict in the Coach-Athlete Relationship / Nicole M. LaVoi, PhD ; Communication ; Conflict ; Relationship Between Communication and Conflict ; Relational Expertise ; Future Research ; Practical Implications ; Summary -- Chapter 4. Youth Peer Relationships in Sport / Alan L. Smith, PhD ; Defining Peer Relationships ; Guiding Theoretical Frameworks ; Why Study Peer Relationships in Sport? ; Research on Sport-Based Peer Relationships ; Future Research ; Practical Implications ; Summary -- Part II. Coach Leadership and Group Dynamics -- Chapter 5. Multidimensional Model of Coach Leadership / Harold A. Riemer, PhD ; Historical Perspectives ; Overview of the Multidimensional Model of Leadership ; Research Associated With the MML ; Evaluation of the Research to Date ; Future Research ; Practical Implications ; Summary -- Chapter 6. Social-Cognitive Approach to Coaching Behaviors ; Ronald E. Smith, PhD, and Frank L. Smoll, PhD / Leadership Research in Youth Sport Settings ; Initial Mediational Model ; Expanded Mediational Model and Research Implications ; Development and Evaluation of Coach Effectiveness Training ; Future Research ; Practical Implications ; Summary -- Chapter 7. Team Cohesion: Nature, Correlates, and Development / Albert V. Carron, PhD, Mark A. Eys, PhD, and Shauna M. Burke, MA ; Conceptual Model for Team Cohesion ; Relationship of Team Cohesion to Team Success ; Correlates of Cohesion ; Benefits and Liabilities of Cohesion ; Nature of Team Building ; Team Building for Cohesion in Sport ; Future Research ; Practical Implications ; Summary -- Chapter 8. All the World's a Stage: Impact of an Audience on Sport Performers / Marc V. Jones, PhD, Steven R. Bray, PhD, and David Lavallee, PhD ; Historical Overview of Theory and Research ; How Do Athletes Respond to an Audience? ; Positive and Negative Effects of Audiences on Athlete Performance ; Future Research ; Practical Implications ; Summary -- Part III. Motivational Climate -- Chapter 9. Coach-Created Motivational Climate / Joan L. Duda, PhD, and Isabel Balaguer, PhD ; Basic Tenets and Constructs of Achievement Goal Frameworks ; Research on the Coach-Created Motivational Climate ; Conceptual Issues and Measurement Challenges ; Future Research ; Practical Implications ; Summary -- Chapter 10. Parent-Created Motivational Climate / Sally A. White, PhD ; Achievement Goal Theory ; Parent Motivation in Educational Settings ; Parent-Created Motivational Climate in Sport and Physical Activity Settings ; Related Findings on Parent Achievement Motivation ; Future Research ; Practical Implications ; Summary -- Chapter 11. Peer-Created Motivational Climate ; Nikos Ntoumanis, PhD, Spiridoula Vazou, PhD, and Joan L. Duda, PhD ; Achievement Goal Theory and Motivational Climate ; Qualitative Investigation of the Peer-Created Motivational Climate ; Measurement of the Peer-Created Motivational Climate ; Peer-Created Motivational Climate and Indices of Motivation ; Age and Gender Differences in Perceptions of the Peer-Created Motivational Climate ; Between-Group Variations in Perceptions of the Peer-Created Motivational Climate ; Future Research ; Practical Implications ; Summary -- Part IV. Key Social and Cognitive Processes in Sport -- Chapter 12. Physical Self-Concept and Sport / Herbert W. Marsh, PhD ; Critical Issues in Self-Concept Research ; Self-Description Questionnaires ; Physical Self-Description Questionnaire (PSDQ) ; Elite Athlete Self-Description Questionnaire ; Causal Ordering of Self-Concept and Performance ; Future Research ; Practical Implications ; Summary -- Chapter 13. Efficacy Beliefs Within Relational and Group Contexts in Sport / Mark R. Beauchamp, PhD ; Role Efficacy Within Sport Teams ; Collective Efficacy Within Sport Teams ; Coaching Efficacy in Sport ; Additional Forms of Relational Efficacy in Sport ; Future Research ; Practical Implications ; Summary -- Chapter 14. Person Perception and Sport Performance / Iain Greenlees, PhD ; Approaches to Person Perception ; Research on Person Perception in Sport ; Future Research ; Practical Implications ; Summary -- Chapter 15. Self-Handicapping in Sport: A Self-Presentation Strategy / Ralph Maddison, PhD, and Harry Prapavessis, PhD ; Self-Presentation ; Self-Handicapping in Sport ; Future Research ; Practical Implications ; Summary -- Part V. The Athlete in the Wider Sport Environment -- Chapter 16. Influence of Social Support on Athletes / Tim Rees, PhD ; What Is Social Support? ; Principal Theoretical Frameworks ; Social Support in Sport ; Future Research ; Practical Implications ; Summary -- Chapter 17. Parenting and Career Transitions of Elite Athletes / Paul Wylleman, PhD, Paul De Knop, PhD, Marie-Christine Verdet, PhD, and Sasa Cecic-Erpic, PhD ; Lifespan Perspective on the Athletic Career ; Multistage Perspective on Parental Involvement ; Stages of Parental Involvement ; Future Research ; Practical Implications ; Summary -- Chapter 18. Passion for Sport in Athletes / Robert J. Vallerand, PhD, and Paule Miquelon, PhD ; Theory and Research on Passion ; Research on Passion in Sport ; Future Research ; Practical Implications ; Summary -- Chapter 19. Morality in Sport / Maria Kavussanu, PhD ; Theories of Morality ; Morality Research in Sport ; Future Research ; Practical Implications ; Summary -- Chapter 20. Cross-Cultural Issues in Sport Psychology Research / Gangyan Si, PhD, and Hing-chu Lee, PhD ; Historical Overview of Cross-Cultural Psychology in Sport ; Basic Definitions ; Popular Frameworks for Cross-Cultural Psychology ; Goals of Cross-Cultural Research ; Methodological Issues ; Future Research ; Practical Implications ; Summary -- Afterword / John Kremer, PhD -- References -- Index -- About the Editors -- About the Contributors.

In the context of an innovative teaching project approved by the Government of Aragon and the University of Zaragoza a study on professional training for young people with intellectual disabilities (ID) was developed. The objective was to investigate the support system and to check the effectiveness of a design based on sources of natural and professional support. 9 young people with DI took part together with diverse support staff –parents, volunteers, university students through a service learning experience, professionals, adults with ID–. The theoretical bases of the project were linked to independent life projects, the supported employment and the supports model. The methodological references were the mediational teaching approach and cooperative learning. As evaluation tools, the Adaptive Skills Inventory (CALS), the questionnaire of social interaction skills (CHIS) and the questionnaires of satisfaction were used. The results indicate a high achievement regarding the acquisition of skills by the participants,as well as a high degree of satisfaction from the experience. Despite several limitations present in our study, our results support the desirability of establishing new designs that enhance the effectiveness of the professional training of young people with DI and promote social and labor availability in inclusive environments. ; En el contexto de un proyecto de innovación docente aprobado por el Gobierno de Aragón y la Universidad de Zaragoza se desarrolló un estudio sobre formación profesional de jóvenes con discapacidad intelectual (DI) cuyo objetivo fue indagar en el sistema de apoyos y comprobar la eficacia de un diseño basado en fuentes de apoyo naturales y profesionales. Participaron 9 jóvenes con DI junto a personal de apoyo diverso –padres, voluntarios, universitarios a través de una experiencia de aprendizaje-servicio, profesionales, adultos con DI–. Los fundamentos teóricos del proyecto se vincularon a los proyectos de vida independiente, el empleo con apoyo y el modelo de apoyos, y los referentes metodológicos han sido el enfoque didáctico mediacional y el aprendizaje cooperativo. Como instrumentos de evaluación se utilizaron el Inventario de Destrezas Adaptativas (CALS), el cuestionario de habilidades de interacción social (CHIS) y cuestionarios de satisfacción. Los resultados obtenidos indican un alto logro de adquisición de competencias de los participantes, así como un alto grado de satisfacción de la experiencia. A pesar de diversas limitaciones presentes en nuestro estudio, nuestros resultados apoyan la conveniencia de establecer nuevos diseños que realcen la efectividad en la formación profesional de los jóvenes con DI y que promuevan la accesibilidad sociolaboral en entornos inclusivos.

This study examines if overweight/obesity are related to higher impulsivity, food addiction and depressive symptoms, and if these variables could be modified after 1 year of a multimodal intervention (diet, physical activity, psychosocial support). 342 adults (55-75 years) with overweight/obesity and metabolic syndrome (MetS) from the PREDIMED-Plus Cognition study were randomized to the intervention or to the control group (lifestyle recommendations). Cognitive and psychopathological assessments were performed at baseline and after 1-year follow-up. At baseline, higher impulsivity was linked to higher food addiction and depressive symptoms, but not to body mass index (BMI). Food addiction not only predicted higher BMI and depressive symptoms, but also achieved a mediational role between impulsivity and BMI/depressive symptoms. After 1 year, patients in both groups reported significant decreases in BMI, food addiction and impulsivity. BMI reduction and impulsivity improvements were higher in the intervention group. Higher BMI decrease was achieved in individuals with lower impulsivity. Higher scores in food addiction were also related to greater post-treatment impulsivity. To conclude, overweight/obesity are related to higher impulsivity, food addiction and depressive symptoms in mid/old age individuals with MetS. Our results also highlight the modifiable nature of the studied variables and the interest of promoting multimodal interventions within this population. ; This project was funded by Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), the Spanish Government Official Agency for funding biomedical research—with competitive grants leaded by Jordi Salas-Salvadó and Josep Vidal for the periods 2014–2016, 2015–2017, 2017–2019 and 2018–2020, through the Fondo de Investigación para la Salud (FIS), which is co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund [grants: PI13/00233, PI13/00728, PI13/01123, PI13/00462, PI16/00533, PI16/00366, PI16/01094, PI16/00501, PI19/00017, PI19/00781, PI19/01032, PI19/00576]; the Especial Action Project entitled: Implementación y evaluación de una intervención intensiva sobre la actividad física Cohorte PREDIMED-Plus grant to Jordi Salas-Salvadó; the European Research Council [Advanced Research Grant 2014–2019; agreement #340918] granted to Miguel Ángel Martínez-González; the Recercaixa (number 2013ACUP00194) grant to Jordi Salas-Salvadó. This research was also partially funded by EU-H2020 Grants (Eat2beNICE/H2020-SFS-2016-2; Ref 728018; and PRIME/H2020-SC1-BHC-2018-2020; Ref: 847879) and Instituto Salud Carlos III (Fondo Investigación Sanitario, FIS: PI17/01167), Grant PROMETEO/2017/017 (Generalitat Valenciana) and Grant FEA/SEA 2017 for Primary Care Research. This work is also partially supported by ICREA under the ICREA Academia programme.

Even though the general health and life expectancies of Western societies have been consistently rising throughout the 20th century, socioeconomic health inequalities continue to persist. Individuals from lower socioeconomic groups have substantially worse health and an increased mortality risk compared to individuals from higher socioeconomic groups. As external factors such as material resources cannot fully account for these health inequalities, personal factors such as intellectual abilities have been suggested as additional important explanatory factors. The research field concerned with the effects of intelligence on different health outcomes is called cognitive epidemiology. Results from this field of research have now established that childhood intelligence is an important predictor of different health outcomes in adulthood. Specifically, children with higher intelligence exhibit a lower mortality risk and enjoy better health in adulthood compared to children with lower childhood intelligence. Despite these findings, several open research questions remain: (1) Almost all previous studies on the relation between childhood intelligence and adult health have been conducted in English-speaking or Scandinavian countries. Can these findings be generalized to countries with different cultural backgrounds, health-care systems, or levels of social mobility? Specifically, Luxembourg offers universal access to quality health care, which may compensate for some of the effects of individual differences in intelligence on health, and as a result, intelligence may lose its impact. (2) Physical health is a multidimensional concept with three distinct subdimensions: a physical subdimension (e.g., presence of diagnosed diseases, number of doctor visits in a certain time period), a subjective subdimension (e.g., satisfaction with one's own health), and a (social-)functional subdimension (e.g., unimpaired participation in social and occupational activities or performing household tasks). Most previous studies on the relation between intelligence and health outcomes have focused on the physical health subdimension. Hence, considerably less is known about the effects of intelligence on the functional and subjective subdimensions. This issue is of particular importance as childhood intelligence may be differentially related to different aspects of adult health. (3) It remains unclear whether different facets of childhood intelligence (e.g., general, fluid, or crystallized intelligence) predict adult health equally well, as most studies on the topic have used only global measures of childhood intelligence to predict later health. However, investigating different facets of childhood intelligence as predictors of adult health would provide insights into which facets of intelligence are important in personal health management and could be targeted by interventions. (4) Despite considerable evidence that has emphasized the relevance of education and further indicators of subsequent socioeconomic status (SES) as potential mediators between childhood intelligence and later health outcomes, previous research has yielded inconsistent results regarding the extent to which these relations are mediated. Some studies have reported pronounced mediation via education and subsequent SES, yet others have reported little or no mediation. However, knowing and understanding which mediational mechanisms underlie the intelligence-health relation and the extent to which they mediate this relation are crucial for applying findings from cognitive epidemiology to public health. (5) As is the case for studies on intelligence and health outcomes, most studies on the relation between intelligence and mortality risk have been conducted in English-speaking or Scandinavian countries. Thus, it remains unclear whether the results of these studies can be generalized to Luxembourg. Further, there is controversy about whether the effect of intelligence on mortality exists across the entire range of intelligence scores or whether individuals at the lower end of the intelligence distribution constitute a risk group with a particularly high mortality risk. Identifying potential risk groups is crucial for determining which groups should be targeted by interventions to reduce inequalities in health and mortality risk. The present Ph.D. thesis addressed these five research questions with three distinctive studies. Study I investigated whether childhood intelligence would predict adult physical, functional, and subjective health 40 years later even when controlling for the effects of childhood SES. Study I also investigated whether a global measure of childhood general intelligence or whether more specific facets such as fluid and crystallized intelligence would better predict adult health. Study II investigated whether and the extent to which educational attainment and SES in adulthood would mediate the effects of childhood intelligence on the three adult health dimensions. Study III investigated whether childhood intelligence would predict adult mortality risk when controlling for childhood SES and whether individuals at the lower end of the intelligence distribution would constitute a risk group with a particularly high mortality risk. All three studies were embedded in the general framework of the Luxembourgish MAGRIP project. This large-scale longitudinal study comprised two waves of measurement over a 40-year period. In the first wave of measurement in 1968, detailed intelligence and socioeconomic data were collected on a randomly selected nationally representative sample comprising 2,824 students at the end of their primary education (M = 11.9 years; SD = 0.6 years; 50.1% male). In the second wave conducted 40 years later, 745 participants (M = 51.7 years, SD = 0.6 years; 46.7% male) provided data on their educational careers, adult SES, and functional, subjective, and physical health. In addition, the mortality rate was established for the participants in the first wave of MAGRIP: 166 participants (69.9% male) had died. The results of the three studies demonstrated that childhood intelligence, particularly childhood fluid intelligence, showed a significant association with adult health: Lower childhood intelligence scores were associated with worse health outcomes on all three dimensions of physical, functional, and subjective health in adulthood, even when controlling for childhood SES. These effects were entirely mediated via educational attainment and adult SES, with educational attainment playing a crucial role in these mediational processes. Further, childhood intelligence showed a significant association with adult mortality such that lower childhood intelligence scores were associated with an increased mortality risk. This effect was particularly strong among men at the lower end of the intelligence distribution. These results suggest that even high-quality public health care cannot fully offset the cumulative effects of childhood intelligence on adult health. Intelligence may thus be an important explanatory factor for socioeconomic inequalities in health. Promising means for reducing these socioeconomic health inequalities consist of interventions that are designed to improve childhood intelligence, to improve environments for childhood physical and intellectual development, and to make public health care and preventive measures or treatments accessible to adults with lower intellectual abilities.

Construction project organisation is a complex human system. Despite the formal governance structure of project, construction works and activities still rely primarily on informal personal contacts of the participants. It is the "here-andnow" interactions and mutual adjustment of project participants that underpins daily construction operations. From the perspective of social learning theory, human interactions in project organization involve learning. In this context, the social nature of learning comes to prominence. Learning embodies the accommodation and adjustment of the project participants' expectation and tacit nuances prevalent in the interactions among participants. As a human system, the organization of project participants in a project forms a social network. The relational links of participants embedded within the network act as an important resource. This resource, especially the goodwill engendered among the participants, can be used to facilitate actions. Such goodwill is referred to as social capital. The combination of these two perspectives enables the construction of a model of the project team. Social capital engendered in the project organization can be appropriated to facilitate positive actions. In this line of conception, the network of relationships among the project participants may offer mutual support for the cultivation of reflective practices and learning in terms of adaptation, integration, and cooperation. Because social capital is the primordial form of social phenomenon, it is postulated that social capital provides the conditions necessary for learning to take place, and learning, in turn, contributes to project success – that is, project learning mediates the impact of social capital on project success. To test this hypothesis and a series of other related propositions, empirical studies had been carried out within the Hong Kong construction industry. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were adopted in the empirical studies – questionnaire survey and case studies were conducted. Findings reveal that a more integrative procurement arrangement, management commitment, project team appraisal system that emphasises team working, participants' intensive interactions, positive personality all contribute to the formation of project social capital, while multiple managerial hierarchies, subcontractor-induced problems, government transparency requirement, goals mismatch, and bureaucratic contract administration all impede its formation. In project organisation, the overlapping of both formal and informal organisational structures occupied by personnel with both technical and managerial capabilities improves project organising efficiency. Indeed, with the mediational thesis generally supported – the impact of social capital on project performance is mediated through learning - and the emergence of a new personal dimension, social capital is a critical antecedent to project organising. However, because social capital and learning affect the soft rather than hard success criteria, other factors need to be considered for overall project performance. These other factors are the capabilities of all project parties and the adoption of relational contracting norms and behaviours. It is the combination of all these factors with social capital as the substrate of participants' interactions that are most likely to lead to overall project performance. ; published_or_final_version ; Real Estate and Construction ; Doctoral ; Doctor of Philosophy

Since 2001, approximately 2.6 million U.S. Service Members have deployed the Middle East in support of Operations Enduring Freedom (OEF), Iraqi Freedom (OIF), New Dawn (OND), Inherent Resolve (OIR), and Freedom's Sentinel (OFS). Nearly 40% of those individuals deployed more than once (Institute of Medicine, 2014). Although most of these individuals reintegrate into civilian life without persistent difficulties, a significant portion experience an ongoing struggle to adjust because of physical injury, mental health concerns, or other functional problems (Sayer, Carlson, & Fraizer, 2014). Existing research on reintegration is primarily problem-focused, describing relationships between symptoms, diagnoses, traumatic experiences, and reintegration difficulty, without presenting possible solutions. The purpose of the present study was to explore how psychological flexibility, military identity, and identity conflict influence both positive and negative reintegration experiences for Veterans and Service Members. Method. The study was conducted using a sample of 189 post 9/11 combat Veterans (N = 115) and active-duty Service Members (N = 74). Participants were recruited to complete an online survey about their reintegration experiences via Facebook and Amazon Mechanical Turk. The proposed model for Veterans hypothesized identity conflict would mediate the effects of psychological flexibility and military identity on reintegration experiences. The model for Service Members hypothesized identity conflict would mediate the effect of psychological flexibility on reintegration experiences. Military identity was included as a covariate for positive reintegration experiences. The mediation models were evaluated using PROCESS v3.0 (Hayes, 2018). Results. The mediational hypotheses were supported in three of the Veteran models, as significant indirect effects were identified for work negative, family negative, and personal negative reintegration experiences. Findings indicate psychological flexibility and military identity transmit a significant effect to these outcome variables through the mediator, identity conflict. The hypothesized mediation models for active-duty Service Members were not supported. For both groups, psychological flexibility was significantly and positively associated with better reintegration outcomes (lower scores on measures of negative reintegration experiences and higher scores on measures of positive reintegration experiences). Increases in identity conflict were associated with increases in negative reintegration experiences in both samples. For Veterans and Service Members, stronger military identity was associated with increases on measures of positive reintegration experiences, as well as higher levels of identity conflict. Within the Service Member sample, stronger military identity was also associated with increases in reintegration difficulty and negative work experiences. Discussion. Results from the present study indicate the relationships between military identity, psychological flexibility, and identity conflict influence the reintegration process for Service Members and Veterans. These findings can be used to guide the development of an intervention to improve reintegration outcomes. An intervention capable of increasing psychological flexibility and decreasing identity conflict would theoretically result in more positive reintegration experiences and less reintegration difficulty for both Service Members and Veterans. Results also imply that targeting military identity as a point of intervention in the reintegration process may be ineffective, as it is linked to increases in both positive and negative outcomes. This study adds to the current understanding of reintegration by examining the process through a cultural lens. Previous research has conceptualized reintegration in terms of the difficulties experienced by military personnel following separation from service or return from a deployment. Post 9/11 reintegration experiences are often portrayed in relation to combat exposure, trauma history, negative psychological symptoms, and mental health diagnoses. This study examined the reintegration process through a less stigmatizing lens by exploring both positive and negative experiences in relation to personality, military culture, and psychological flexibility. In doing so, the present study normalizes reintegration as a cultural transition and establishes a foundation on which future interventions can be built.

The book constitutes the first Polish monograph concerning the issues of coexistence with people with "dark" personality traits in the workplace. The present monograph considers three types of socially harmful personality traits which form the so-called dark triad: Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy. The "dark" personality traits constitute the core of the inquiry and they are analyzed with regard to the attitudes towards work (i.e. job satisfaction and brand loyalty), civic and counter-productive activities in the workplace, as well as (according to the interactive approach) selected characteristics of the workplace. The monograph consists of four chapters. Chapter one presents the two basic approaches to describing personality in the workplace: the trait approach and the interactive approach. In the beginning, the chapter underscores the importance of distinguishing between the "light" and "dark" personality traits in the workplace. Next, the chapter discusses the most important conceptions within the interactive approach to the study of personality in the organizational context, including the theory of personality trait activation in the workplace. Chapter two introduces the taxonomy of the dark triad, which includes three discrete "dark" personality traits, analyzed at the sub-clinical level: Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy. It presents two approaches to the study of the dark triad: the unification approach and the discrimination approach, and situates the dark triad against the other personality models, in addition to enumerating the most important behavioral correlations between Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy. Moreover, it discusses the issue of the functioning of people who possess some of the traits of the dark triad in the workplace, underlining the significance of the potential benefits and costs connected with the presence of people who exhibit high levels of Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy in the business. Chapter three discusses two attitudes towards work, analyzed in the monograph in relation to the traits exhibited by the dark triad: job satisfaction and brand loyalty. The chapter defines both concepts, presents the main categories of their personality and situational conditions, and examines the character of the links between the traits of the dark triad and the aforementioned attitudes towards work. Chapter four focuses on the analysis of two distinctive categories of voluntary actions in the workplace, i.e. civic actions and counter-productive actions. It indicates the main problems with terminology connected with the description of the aforementioned organizational actions and differentiates between three categories of conditions for organizational actions: attitudes towards work, situational factors, personality factors. The chapter is based on earlier research which focuses on the analysis of the interdependence between the personality traits of the dark triad and civic as well as counter-productive actions in the workplace. The three following chapters form the empirical part of the monograph. The first chapter discusses the methodological basis of own research; the second chapter analyzes the results of the study, and the third chapter presents their interpretation. The conducted study has confirmed the majority of the hypotheses considering the direct links between the personality traits of the dark triad, attitudes towards work and organizational actions. It has been shown that two conditions (power within the organization, understood as a formal position at the firm, and interpersonal conflict in the workplace) fulfilled the role of the moderators in the relation between the traits of the dark triad and attitudes towards work and organizational actions. Singular mediational effects of the attitudes towards work with regard to the links between the traits of the dark triad and organizational actions have also been observed. Taking into account the results of the study, modifications to the research model have been proposed, in order to include the direct correlations between situational factors and attitudes towards work and organizational actions. At the end of the monograph, on the basis of the literature on the subject, the author attempted interpretation of the obtained results, pointing to the limitations of the conducted studies and possible future avenues for empirical research.

Information technology and political motives, e.g. e-governance, freedom of information legislation, has recent years lead to an increasing emphasis on users and access to records, but little research based knowledge about those issues exist so far. The main focus of the previous research is the use of non-current records in archival repositories. The aim of this thesis is to make a contribution to the research field, in order to gain a better understanding of the information behaviour of users of records in contemporary organizational settings. The research questions addressed are: § How are records used in contemporary organizations?- In what context and for what purposes are records used?- What user categories can be identified? § How is the search for records mediated?- What intermediaries are used in the search process?- How well do the features of the artefactual intermediaries serve the users' information needs?- What is the role of human intermediaries? An additional purpose of the study is to contribute to theory development, and to provide a conceptual model of the information behaviour of users of records that can form the basis for further research. The thesis is based on explorative case studies undertaken in two contemporary Swedish public organizations, one municipality and one governmental agency. Data was collected through interviews, analysis of documentary sources and complementary observations. The analysis of the findings was guided by a theoretical framework consisting of activity theory informed by concepts from archival theory and models of information behaviour. The results of the cases studies showed that information behaviour of users of records and the search process could be described as a part of an activity system. The search process was a sub-ordinated activity of other activities. The needs for records was generated by a task or accomplishment of anykind with purpose to achieve something. Those needs motivated the purposes of use of records: material, operational, accountability seeking or knowledge enhancing purposes. The subjects, users in collaboration with the registrars and archivists, seeked to obtain records with help of different mediational means, e.g. artifactual intermediaries as the journal and the archives inventory that could be defined as representational systems, in order to reach a certain outcome: fact-finding, re-construction of past actions and events, regaining experience and knowledge, verifying status, or illustrating and exemplifying. A variety of user groups, internal as well as external, could be identified in both organizations. Those could act as direct or indirect users, and indirect use by one part meant direct use by another who acted as a mediator between the records and the end users. The external users could be defined as stakeholders of the organizations or other users. Users showed, with occasional exceptions, a preference for informal means of mediation, particularly personal communication. Certain features of the formal representational systems, journals and inventories, could be identified, which made them less useful as search tool. Those were generated by contradictions and tensions within the organizations: contradictions within the representational systems; contradictions between the tasks of the users and the representational systems; contradictions between user requests and the access points in the representational systems; contradictions between external users and the activities of the organizations; contradictions between exogenous institutional conditions and the the activities of the organizations; and contradictions of a temporal character. These circumstances necessitated an active intervention of human intermediaries. This could be seen as an example of the division of labour in the organizations. Search and retrieval of records were part of the registrars' and the archivists' specific professional knowledge, but were not considered as primary tasks of other employees or, especially not, of the external users. The results of the study contributes to to the knowledge about the use of records, and how records are approached. It provides a model of the search process that can form the basis for further research. The practical implications of the findings could be improved search tools and user services, i.e. enhanced access. The thesis can also contribute to theoretical enrichment of the field by combining a more comprehensive social theory with archival theory and concepts from information science. ; Utveckling av arkiv- och informationsvetenskap

During COVID-19, early-childhood school closings led to higher levels of stress in parents when compared to childless adults. In addition, lack of time to prepare, as well as mental-health problems, worry, and stress in parenting, may have hampered parents' ability to support their children's educational needs. The research aims to solve the problem of early childhood parenting during learning from home and improve the quality of early childhood parenting. The research method uses the research and development stage of the Borg & Gall model. Participants are mothers who have children aged 5-6 years. The data collection technique was done through expert validation and effectiveness testing with a quasi-experimental design. The data analysis used paired t-test statistical analysis. The findings show that the validity of the results of the material expert's test is 96%, and the media expert's test is 94% in the very good category. The effectiveness test based on the pre-test and post-test results showed that Sig. (2-tailed) <0,05 (α), which means that the parenting e-book media significantly increases mothers' understanding of parenting well-being practices in early childhood. The implications of this multimedia-based anyflip e-book can be downloaded via gadgets, android, laptop, practical, easy to read and repeated to accompany childcare activities from home. Keywords: Anyflip E-book, Early Childhood, Parenting References Banerjee, A., Hanna, R., Kyle, J., Olken, B. A., & Sumarto, S. (2019). Private Outsourcing and Competition: Subsidized Food Distribution in Indonesia. Journal of Political Economy, 127(1), 101–137. https://doi.org/10.1086/700734 Borg, W. R., & Gall, M. D. (2007). Educational Research an Introduction. Fourth Edition. Bacon Publishing. Bruni, O., Sette, S., Fontanesi, L., Baiocco, R., Laghi, F., & Baumgartner, E. (2015). Technology Use and Sleep Quality in Preadolescence and Adolescence. 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