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Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the link between informal learning and employees’ in-role performance and whether the mechanism through informal learning mediates the relationships between self-efficacy, job characteristics, trust and in-role performance. Design/methodology/approach Based on data (n = 294) obtained from the firms with the Work–Learning Dual System in South Korea, a structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis was conducted. Findings The findings indicated that trust and job characteristics affected informal learning and informal learning mediates the relationships of trust and job characteristics with job performance. Originality/value The significant contributions of this study to the extant literature on informal learning are as follows: first, the present study investigates a mechanism and a mediating role of informal learning using SEM, while most previous studies in literature have employed qualitative research in informal learning. Second, this study explores the mediating role of informal learning between personal/job-related determinants of informal learning and in-role performance, which has not yet been examined in existing literature. Finally, this study provides practical implications regarding how organizations can facilitate more informal learning among employees to enhance their performance.

PurposeBased on the job characteristics theory (Oldham and Hackman, 2010), the authors highlighted the mediating role of job meaningfulness as a critical psychological state. Employees' positive perception of job meaningfulness could maximize organizational positive outcomes based on task orientation and trustful relationship-based satisfying behaviors. The purpose of this paper is to examine the structural relations among transformational leadership, job characteristics, job meaningfulness and task-related job performance. The conceptual model of this paper is developed based on the theoretical foundations for assessing mediating and moderating path relations among the exogenous and endogenous variables.Design/methodology/approachBased on the research questions with literature review, the research framework was developed to show the moderated mediating mechanism of the link between transformational leadership and in-role performance. Data analyses for hypothesis testing were conducted by Hayes' PROCESS macro-based hierarchical regression.FindingsUnderstanding how organizations can optimally design a job based on job characteristics and helping employees maintain psychological states having meaningfulness and responsibility for outcomes are critical. This paper calls attention to how job characteristics and an individual's meaningfulness of work embedded in a given job play a role in influencing job performance.Originality/valueThis study provides a snapshot for examining the job characteristic model on the link between leadership and job performance. By using process analysis (Hayes, 2013), this study examined the moderating role of job characteristics and mediating role of meaningfulness at work in the link of leadership–performance.

While university change initiatives have become more common in the face of changing learner needs and higher education funding, many fail to produce desired effects, even when guided by organizatio...

This study was conducted to contribute to the field of Human Performance Technology (HPT) through the validation of the performance analysis process of the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) HPT model, the most representative and frequently utilized process model in the HPT field. The study was conducted using content analysis as the research methodology to investigate thirty HPT business cases. The findings in this research indicate that the detailed processes and components as depicted in the performance analysis process in the ISPI HPT model were not fully present in the HPT business cases. Actual processes used in the business cases to identify performance gaps differed in part from the model. In addition, the procedure of analysis in the model is depicted as a logical sequence and in the cases is an actual sequence. In addition, the refined performance analysis process is proposed based on the research findings.

As our first presentation in a series of academic program profiles, we are pleased to present the Organization, Information, and Learning Science (OILS) program at the University of New Mexico (UMN). The OILS program began in the 1980s as a vocational education program and has evolved into a program that focuses on human performance technology (HPT), instructional design (ID), and learning sciences. The OILS program is organizationally a part of the College of University Libraries and Learning Science. The library faculty brings positive synergy to OILS in terms of data management and information technology, research, education, and applied practices. The program offers an undergraduate degree as well as masters and doctoral degrees. It is very rare to provide an undergraduate degree in the HPT and ID fields, and the OILS program is proud of these pioneering efforts. OILS has a pragmatic tradition. The faculty members of OILS and its graduate students have conducted scholastic and practical research projects in HPT, ID, and learning sciences. Coursework emphasis is on cultivating students’ capabilities for excellent performance in the workplace. The program has a strong network within the local community with local employers as well as with local chapters of professional societies. The present demographics in the State of New Mexico in terms of the majority-minority status are similar to the overall demographics that the United States as a whole will face within the next 30 years. OILS is an innovative program. – Sung “Pil” Kang, PhD and Yeol Huh, PhD, column editors

This article addresses two key aspects of change management and the notional confusion that occurs resulting from two different uses of the term change management. The author proposes new terms—macro change management and micro change management—for the two uses of the term change management. He then compares these two terms based on their attributes, comprising definition, target, focus, and roles of change agents including required competencies. The article concludes with explanations as to why change management notional clarification and term elaboration are important for the human performance technology field.

Smectite clays are widely dispersed in deep ocean sediments and can be subdivided into two representative clay types, Cheto- and Wyoming-montmorillonites. In this study, we measured the thermodynamic phase behavior of methane hydrates intercalated at various concentrations of these clays and found the relatively weak promotion tendency when compared to that of pure methane hydrate stability. The structure and morphology of intercalated methane hydrate (IMH) samples were analyzed using the MAS NMR, RAMAN, LT-XRD, and Cryo-FE-SEM. The 27Al and 29Si solid-state MAS NMR spectra of IMH Cheto and Otay clays represent that the structural stability is preserved during the IMH formation, which is also indicated with the XRD pattern showing no structural transformation but different d-spacing values due to clay−water suspension and IMH. In addition, Cryo-SEM images of IMH samples show that IMH Otay clays provide well-developed methane hydrate (MH) morphology, compared to the IMH Cheto clay.

Cryopreservation of sporothalli of the red alga Porphyra (P. seriata, P. yezoensis, P. tenera, P. pseudolinearis and P. dentata) was performed by the two-step cooling method in liquid nitrogen. The algal samples were suspended in various cryoprotective solutions, and slowly cooled to -40 in 4 hours using a programmed freezer. After the first slow cooling the suspensions with cryoprotectants were immediately immersed in liquid nitrogen. The suspension from the programmed freezer was thawed quickly by agitation of the vial in a water bath at 40°C. When ice in the suspension of cryogenic vial was mostly melted, the vial was transferred to an ice bath for complete melting of the residual ice. The cryoprotectants in the vial were washed off by gradual dilution with seawater. The viability of the cell was assessed with neutral red staining. The viability of Porphyra samples ranged 54.6-70.9% when the mixed suspension of 10% dimethylsulfoxide and 0.5 M sorbitol in 50% seawater used as a cryoprotectant.

This study examined the ultraviolet-A blocking effect and antioxidant activity of Gracilariopsis chorda extract for use as sunscreen agents in cosmetics. The maximum absorbance at ultra violet-A320-330 and transmissivity was 20-80%. The 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH)radical scavenging activity of Gracilariopsis chorda extract was 68-96% and increased with the sample concentration. This indicates that Gracilariopsis chorda extract is a promising natural compound that could be useful as a sunscreen.