© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018.The objective of this study is to describe the interactions between individual-level response (employees’ trust and adhesion to Human Resource (HR) Management practices) and organizational-level processes (managers’ implementation of new practices, for instances technologies). The need to understand employees’ perceptions in an interactional perspective, correlating these variables with the perceptions of HR managers constitutes an important field of research, integrating both perspectives in multi-level studies. In this paper we illustrate our initial research in a multi-level research project, presenting the results of a qualitative study of HR managers’ perceptions of social processes involved in HR and their employees’ acceptance of HR practices. We also analyzed perceptions that might lead to modifications of the HR system. Our results suggest that these perceptions influence the implementation or suspension of HR practices.

© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018.Despite the increasing awareness of the relevance of technologies to various life domains and environments, its application to research on Information Systems and Technology Teachers’ Evaluation in Higher Education is still very limited. The IT sector has special characteristics, such as the high employability rates that are very relevant to integrate in the discussion about the teachers’ performance appraisal. Universities need to reflect about the retention of teachers with good and competitive performance appraisal systems. Also, performance appraisal models had been suffering a change in its theoretical and empirical relevance towards a process-based approach. This short paper presents a work in progress that intends to analyse the state of the art on teacher evaluation in Higher Education, specifically on Information Systems and Technology Teachers’, review national and international teacher evaluation frameworks in Higher Education, identify the main principles and assumptions underlying teacher evaluation models in Higher Education and characterize the existing models and practices of teacher evaluation, at national and international level, their main results and conclusions.

© 2018, University of Minho. All rights reserved.The goal of this paper is to discuss the practical challenges found in the operationalization of University-Business Cooperation (UBC) strategies, based on a contextualized example of a at Escola Superior de Technologia e Gestão (ESTG), the technologic school of Polytechnic Institut of Viana do Castelo (IPVC). The paper describes the process of development and implementation of a UBC unit, establishing broad range of partnerships with public, private and voluntary sector organisations, wich aims at fostering and strengthening the relationship between science and organisations. This Unit emerged from an organizational attempt to aggregate several Cooperation initiatives, including PBL Projects taking place within diverse courses, and enhance the possibility to create a strategic school “unit” in accordance with international recommendations in the field of UBC. The unit intends to consistently establish the conditions for cooperation between academia and organizations, providing guidance and strengthening efforts in the value chain between higher education and organizations. In general, the unit activities aim at maintaining high levels of strategic orientation, enhancing the development of student’s skills., whilst contributing to social and economic development. It intends to encourage and promote knowledge sharing and transfer, create partnerships and long-term opportunities, developing and increasing students' creativity and innovation, through proven methods such as active teaching-learning methods, and therefore, increasing students’ employability. These activities require the acquisition of knowledge associated with the development of an entrepreneurial stance, whilst supporting and promoting the diversification of sources of financing higher education. Simultaneously, this approach will provide a judicious and sustained development of the professional relationships and the work environment within and outside the school. In this School, different courses have established partnerships with several organisations since a long time, creating the necessary conditions for project-based learning approaches, and for the development of students’ employability skills. However, these initiatives were carried out by teachers and courses, on a voluntary and independent basis. This paper presents the development process and organization of a UBC unit and describes the different hubs that are being proposed. Critical factors to take into consideration for the success and improvement of UBC initiatives will be discussed and pointed out, in the light of the existing literature in this field.

© 2018, University of Minho. All rights reserved.An ongoing study about what motivates/demotivates students of an Industrial Engineering and Management (IEM) program will be introduced. The reasons behind students’ choice and the main factors that motivate/demotivate them, throughout the different years, will be explored. This study is part of a longitudinal one based on information from IEM students’ motivation and perceptions throughout their academic journey (five years). The students anonymously completed an online questionnaire applied in two different moments (end of each semester) to all IEM students. Based on the answers to three open questions (“What motivated me the most?”, “What motivated me the least?”, “What could contribute to increase my motivation?”), a mix approach will be carried out, to follow students’ perceptions, experiences and motivation through their academic years. Also, a question allowing students to rate their motivation in the semester (from “always motivated” to “never motivated”) was included. As a first study, 2016/17 academic first year will be analysed. From a population of 334 students, 66 (20%) in the first semester and 64 (19%) in the second semester answered the questionnaire. Although the sample’s dimension can difficult the statistical inference, the study revealed some interesting results. Six main categories of motivation/demotivation factors were identified: the program go from the curricular content; companies contact; the learning methodology; teamwork; the teacher-student relationship; the final assessment, the time management, curricular units and the existence of project. An important issue to highlight is the use of active learning approaches which strongly contribute to student’s motivation and engagement. The majority of students perceived their motivation as “sometimes motivated” (65% in the first semester and 59% in the second). The diversity of answers to the same questions show how different students are. In general, this can be seen as a drag as, and most of times, students are treated in a standard way, without respecting individual differences. This could be an important aspect to attend when discussing the quality of teaching and dropouts from school.

© Springer International Publishing AG 2017. Gamification has increasingly been applied to various life domains and environments, including work and the workplace. Accordingly, research on gamification has grown considerably in the past years. This study presents a systematic review of the theoretical and empirical literature produced in the past 11 years about the application of gamification to the work domain. We analyze the available literature about why gamification is important in work and human resources management, how it can be guided, and which are the examples of gamification in this domain. The systematic review was based on 35 articles, including theoretical papers, empirical (quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods) studies, case studies, and other types of papers (presentation of new resources for gamification). Findings are summarized in terms of the sample, country of the study, study type, main results, and gamification and work dimen sions associated. The results show that research on the applications of gamifica tion in the workplace is scarce and mostly exploratory. Most studies were conducted using quantitative methods, but with small samples and simple research designs. Although the literature suggests evidence for the usefulness and appropriateness of gamification in the workplace, there are significant limitations in the research, translating a gap between HR practitioners’ concerns and academic developments in this field.