Job Seeking and Daily Workforce Experiences of Autistic Librarians

Anecdotal accounts suggest that librarianship is a rewarding career for some autistic adults, though no empirical evidence exists to support such claims. Additionally, barriers may exist for autistic librarians, both in job seeking and in on-the-job experiences. As autistic adults are un- and underemployed more than their neurotypical peers, it is important to understand the role that libraries can play in supporting their employment. In this qualitative study, ten librarians with graduate degrees, who self-identify as autistic, describe their experiences in job seeking and daily working experiences in the library field through interviews in multiple formats. Results indicate issues around disclosure and accessibility, and that librarians thrive when their skills are prioritized and when they feel like they are helping or doing meaningful work. Additionally, these librarians find their way into the profession through exposure to libraries and take comfort in working with like-minded people. Finally, autistic librarians in this study describe the hope that hiring managers and library supervisors have at least some knowledge and understanding of autism, along with the willingness to learn more.

On the Elusive Moderators of Affective Organizational Commitment

Departing from a universal perspective on affective organizational commitment, the present article examines the situational and personal variables that act as potential moderators of the relationship between affective commitment and its antecedents and outcomes. Based on emerging evidence and theory, it is argued that the relationship between extrinsic and intrinsic rewards and other job experiences and affective commitment is stronger when employees exert an influence over rewards and job experiences. This can be achieved when the organization offers opportunities for such influence or when employees’ traits help them earn expected rewards. Similarly, theory and empirical evidence suggest that the relationship between affective commitment and work outcomes is subject to moderating influences. For example, affective commitment may foster employee retention when more career opportunities are available, making one’s belongingness to the organization more attractive. Such career opportunities may result from the organization’s action or from individuals’ own proactivity to obtain them. Likewise, the relationship between affective commitment and work performance is likely stronger when supervisors’ leadership helps employees engage in those behaviors that are rewarded by the organization. Finally, we discuss avenues for future inquiry by identifying group-level and cultural variables as promising moderators that warrant attention.

ECONOMIC INTELLIGENCE ANALYSIS WITHIN THE ITALIAN BANKING SYSTEM

The purpose of the present article is to explore and investigate on the nature of the web of relations of the main Italian banks, on the basis of the evolution of the career paths of their relative members of the Board of Directors. The practical implications of the study is associated with the fact that there is a stronger attention by the national and international financial authorities, such as the European Central Bank (ECB) and the National Competent Authorities (NCAs), about the governance in the banks and the theoretical background and practical abilities of the senior management to assume a specific role in a financial institution. That condition determines a situation in which a member of the board of a European bank tends to have previous job experiences from other financial institutions, which can be used as informal liaisons to gathering information and disseminate knowledge, thus shaping the whole banking infrastructure. For that reason, due to the significant consequences of that bond of relations in shaping the entire financial system, the subject of the research consists in trying to measure the Economic Intelligence aptitudes of the most significant Italian banks, which derives from personal relationships constructed and developed by the senior management of the financial intermediaries in their previous job experiences. The novelty of the present article consists in conducting an Economic Intelligence analysis within the Italian banking system. Methodology. By calculating the main centrality indexes (among those offered by the Social Network Analysis discipline) related to each Italian bank within the global banking network constructed on the basis of personal relationships among the relative members of the Board of Directors, it is possible to measure a financial institution’s inclination to have a sort of “influence” in the system, and in the process, to adopt a potential sound and proper Economic Intelligence strategy. The basic result of the paper highlights that, notwithstanding the dimension of a financial institution in the network, a bank could be characterized by significant centrality indexes in a web of social relations, thus having the potential capability to have a certain influence and impact within the entire banking network. In other words, the size of the bank, expressed for example as number of branches, total assets or number of employees, is not the only element to express the capacity of a bank to play a pivotal role in the financial system.

Are All Challenges Equal?

This study seeks to advance theory on the motivational underpinnings of striving for challenge. We propose and empirically demonstrate that challenging job experiences can be meaningfully subdivided into private challenging job experiences (private challenges) and public challenging job experiences (public challenges). Drawing on achievement goal theory, in a two-wave field study among 226 employees (Study 1) and a multi-source field study among 326 employees (Study 2), we found initial evidence regarding differential effects of employees' mastery-approach goals and performance-approach goals in relation to private challenges and public challenges. Furthermore, Study 2 showed a negative relationship between performance-approach goals and supervisor-rated in-role job performance when public challenges were low. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.