Vol 3 No 1 (2024)

• Editorial of Vol 3 No 1

  Garry Hornby

  The  articles  in  this  issue  of  Psychology  Research  and  Practice originate  from  several very different  countries  and  address  a  wide  range  of  topics  for  which  theory  and  research  in  psychology  provide  guidelines for  improving  practice  in  various  aspects  of  human  endeavour. The  first  article,  by Jie and Guangqian,  investigated factors affecting identity status among Chinese rural laborers. The  second  article,  by  Son,  Hong,  Tae,  Kim and Lee, investigated the role of over-confidence and under-confidence in retrospective time estimation for participants from South Korea and the USA. The  third  article, by Liu, Zhou and Jiang examined the influence of career adaptability of Chinese participants on two organizational outcome variables, namely, job performance and turnover intention, through the mediating effect of personal-organization fit and the moderating effect of seniority. The  fourth  article,  by Hornby and Pilgrim,  examined eight components of proposed education reform in Barbados that are based on evidence from the field of educational psychology found in the international research literature on effective education systems. The  fifth  article, by Thapaliya, Rana, Yadu, Adhikari and Prasad,  explored faculty members’ perspectives on the use of information and communication technology for teaching and learning in Higher Education Institutions in Nepal.

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• Is Career Adaptability a Double-edged Sword? The Mediating Role of Person-organization Fit and the Moderating Role of Seniority

  Huimin Liu, Lulu Zhou, Yuan Jiang

  Purpose - Career adaptability is a crucial skill for employees to cope with the changing job market and working environment. Despite the fact that researchers are becoming more interested in the topic, few managers pay attention to the many variables that influence its link with organizational outcomes. Drawing on the theory of career construction and career development, this study examines the influence of career adaptability on two organizational outcome variables, namely, job performance and turnover intention, through the mediating effect of personal-organization fit and the moderating effect of seniority.

  Design/methodology/approach - Using questionnaires, information was gathered from 375 employees of Chinese state-owned firms, private businesses, and public agencies. The hypothesis effect is examined using multi-level analysis.

  Findings - 1) Career adaptability partially affected job performance through the mediation of person-organization fit.; The effect of career adaptability on job performance was moderated by seniority, and compared to employees with longer seniority, job performance of those with shorter seniority was enhanced by career adaptability. 2) Career adaptability affected turnover intention completely through the mediation of person-organization fit; The effect of person-organization fit on turnover intention was moderated by seniority, and compared with longer seniority employees, person-organization fit reduced the turnover intention of those with shorter seniority.

  Originality - This study enriches the existing literature on variables influencing the link between career adaptability and work outcomes, emphasizing in particular the significance of seniority and person-organization fit. In addition, it offers Chinese organization administrators a theoretical framework for considering career adaptability, which has consequences for the development of "personalized and flexible" systems.

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• The Necessity for Evidence-Based Education Reform in Barbados

  Garry Hornby, Marcia Pilgrim

  Long-term concern about the poor academic outcomes and violent behaviour in schools in Barbados have led to calls for reform of the education system with proposals recently being made by the Ministry of Education and many citizens with experience of the education system. In the main these proposals are not based on sound research evidence for which interventions will have a significant positive impact on the education system. This article outlines eight components of proposed education reform that are based on evidence from the field of educational psychology that highlight policies found in the international research literature to underpin effective education systems. These are: creating community secondary schools serving their local primaries; opening a small number of sixth form colleges; implementing comprehensive policy and procedures for the education of children with special educational needs; ensuring effective parental involvement at all levels of the education system; ensuring rigorous initial and ongoing teacher education at the pre-primary, primary and secondary levels; modernising all primary and secondary school buildings and classrooms; adding vocational options to the secondary school curriculum; re-focusing teaching at primary schools on ensuring all pupils develop adequate literacy and numeracy skills for them to be successful at secondary school.

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