The purpose of this paper is to investigate the top Arab universities with impact in the web world, and analyzing if the support of innovative communication systems develops competitive advantage for placement in University of Arab world. The explosion of social media communication has brought about numerous changes in every type of activity. This has altered the nature of competition, accelerating the flow of information, of new products and of services in all the world. In this context it becomes necessary for Universities to encourage graduates to enter the job market, guaranteeing their placement also with these new tools. The study includes 292 students of 16 Universities representing 20 Arab Countries.

Social media tools are becoming an important presence in recruitment processes, transforming them. They allow an instant sharing of ideas, opinions, knowledge and experiences, creating a new “space- time” dimension that could be translated in a new way (additional) to “recruit” workers. Although there are many benefits and promises from social media, however several risks are associated with their use. The ambiguity related to legal and ethical issues of social media, at the same time, contains the enthusiasm related to the potentialities that social media offer. In particular, this chapter aims at analysing the perceived risks and benefits of social media by students to understand if it can be useful for University Career Services (referred to UCS) to use these tools in job placement. The analysis is conducted in five countries: Netherlands, Sweden, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Croatia. It can be useful for managers of universities and firms to understand whether the presence of Universities on social media by students and firms is positive or not.

La presente ricerca si rivolge al territorio ricompreso nell’Unione dei Comuni del Nord Salento, identificabile nei Comuni di: Campi Salentina, Guagnano, Novoli, Salice Salentino, Squinzano, Surbo e Trepuzzi. L’obiettivo è quello di analizzare, sotto un’ottica economico-organizzativa, le possibili modalità, tra quelle sopra esposte, per la riduzione dell'inquinamento acustico da traffico, al fine di valutare l'impatto, in termini economici e di immagine, che le diverse soluzioni comportano, e di indicare quella o quelle più convenienti/opportune per la collettività.

The presence of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in firms has grown in recent years but the rate of adoption among nations diverges considerably. The way to involve employees and the diffusion of the socially responsible values into the organizational culture can depend to the cultural dimensions of a country. This paper explores the relationship between attitudes to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the cultural dimensions of business activity identified by Hofstede (2005) and Globe (2004) through a longitudinal analysis of Cranet Network based on 2,678 firms located in 13 countries. This paper attempts to focus on the relationship between environmental sustainability in terms of CRS and culture, interpreting the HRM practices in “green organization”. This study can be used as a guide for managers, giving an indication of the link between environmental strategy, human resource management and culture dimensions across countries.

Sructured Abstract Purpose –This paper analyses together information technologies and health, to address the question of how social networks may, with knowledge sharing to patients, doctors, health care stakeholders, provide a new vehicle to build new emerging “smart organizations”. The purpose of this paper is to explore with a conceptual approach how social media (Facebook) can be used strategically to promote social innovation. The evolution of the Information Technologies opens, today, new organizational scenarios also in the healthcare systems: the virtual revolution announces a new model of society in which healthcare organizations must change radically managerial imperatives, the structures, the processes and organizational cultures; if they want to survive they must be able to penetrate in emotionality of persons (Normann, 2006). The health care organizations, complex adaptive systems, must become open and collaborative systems, capable of developing deep partnerships with patients, their families and the community benefits from offered services, improving thus the effectiveness and efficiency of medical care. To achieve this, it is necessary to create places, especially virtual, where new “distinctive” knowledge is created, a knowledge that spreads through relational assets that are established between the human components. The communication process, therefore, takes a central role, both in the operator-user relationships and in the operator-operator relationships. Design/methodology/approach – We implement an approach in which patients are active participants in their own care and we develop a model more collaborative and human that challenges dogmas of communication deeply held inside health organizations to create a "new value". The research topic is very complex; therefore, the empirical analysis has been a key point to address it. The data were collected through a pilot project at the national level, which involved 1500 people, including doctors, members of different health care organizations, and patients. Originality/value – The pilot project, starting from the existing data in the literature on the use of virtual communication and of social networks in health care organization, brings to light the fact that today health care organizations are using Facebook as a showcase, without exploiting its true potential. The paper identify to what extent Italian hospitals use social media and if the use of social networks such as communication systems in health care organization improves the human relationship and communication between the patient and the health care system. In fact, replacing medical text cryptic with a natural language, enhanced, where possible, by audio or video recordings, it is possible 277 to maintain the specific terminology needed to identify possible pathologies, reducing the ambiguity. Patients and doctors are linked “anywhere and anytime”. Healthcare organizations that implement communication systems, using Facebook, may benefit from the ability of this to give a voice to patients, to communicate fast, to be near to the patients, to develop a "new image" of “social hospitals” that is of smart organizations . Practical implications – This methodology puts in evidence the need to reaffirm and reshape "the closeness and distance" between healthcare organizations and individuals. Patients today have a "digital identity", spend their free time online in social networks, they have energy, enthusiasm and ability to find on-line solutions to their pathologies, they speak the language of the computer, they love the virtual interaction. And it’s the same for doctors: a new generation, “always on-line” (Veen and Vrakking, 2010) who is connected, content-centric, computerized, community oriented. In this scenario hospitals seem to be becoming aware of the benefits social media could offer but they are still r

The process of interaction between individuals, through the use of social media, is one of the most complex problems that theorists have had to analyse in recent years. Social media tools are becoming an important presence in recruitment processes, transforming them. The rapid changes that the diffusion of social media has had in the communication processes would undoubtedly impose a drastic change: the use of social media allow an instant sharing of ideas, opinions, knowledge and experiences, creating a new “space-time” dimension that could be translated in a new way (additional) to "recruit" workers. The paper aims at providing an analysis of the phenomenon of social recruitment in Italian universities through the analysis of the percentage of presence and survival of these social networks and the use of this instrument for the placement of graduates in companies.This study can be useful for managers of universities and firms to understand whether the presence of Universities on social media by students and firms is positive or not. The challenge is necessary and it must be not only organizational but, above all, cultural (Normann, 1996).

Questo libro è stato stimolato dal desiderio di comprendere quale sia il ruolo del social recruiting nella creazione di un vantaggio competitivo sostenibile per l’azienda, in un periodo in cui la diffusione dei social media ha condotto a mutamenti sociali, complessità ambientale, turbolenza dei mercati e a sistemi che traslano le aziende dal reale al virtuale e dal virtuale al reale, per cui non si avverte più la limitazione del tempo e del luogo ma l’immensità di una realtà che non ha più vincoli comunicativi e che rende, dunque, le risorse umane elemento prezioso e unico. Se poi si considera che esiste una stretta relazione tra l’employer brand di un’azienda, inteso come usabilità del sito, attrattività, facilità di navigazione, correlazione tra valori individuali e aziendali, e il successo del social recruiting (analizzato attraverso un’indagine empirica), emerge chiaramente che oggi le aziende hanno la necessità di instaurare legami “forti” o “deboli” che siano, con i potenziali candidati e che solo agevolando il cambiamento organizzativo, a partire dai reclutatori, potranno sopravvivere.

Purpose of the research – Social media tools are becoming an important presence in healthcare. This paper analyses together social media and health, to address the question of how social networks may, with knowledge sharing to patients, doctors, health care stakeholders, provide a new vehicle of communication. The purpose of this paper is to explore, with a conceptual approach, how social media can develop new communication processes, both in the operator-user relationships and in the operator-operator relationships. Today, social media open new organizational scenarios also in the healthcare systems, which announce important changes in managerial imperatives, structures, processes and organizational cultures; that is new systems that have to be able to penetrate in emotionality of persons (Normann, 2006). Social media allow an instant sharing of ideas, opinions, knowledge and experiences, creating a new “space-time” dimension that would translate in a new way (additional) to "cure" the patient (Hawn, 2009).The health care organizations, complex adaptive systems, have to become open and collaborative systems, capable of developing deep partnerships with patients, their families and the community benefits from offered services, improving thus the effectiveness and efficiency of medical care. To achieve this, it is necessary to create places, especially virtual, where new “distinctive” knowledge is created, a knowledge that spreads through relational assets that are established between the human components. Theoretical background - Starting to the idea that the ambiguity related to legal and ethical issues (for example patient privacy) of social media contains the enthusiasm related to the potentialities that they offer, we have develop an overview of six European countries to bring out the real use of social media in Hospitals. Considering that "the key to success is the intelligent use of the relationship with the customer" (Normann, 2000:22), this paper investigates the perception of the use of Facebook by patients and doctors and, in particular, it explores Facebook users' awareness of the perceived benefits and if these will outweigh the observed risks. We apply a method, based on difference measurement (Krantz et al., 1971; Roberts, 1979) , fitted on the perceptual preferences of patients and doctors of Facebook communication. The Maximum Difference Scaling (MDS) was adopted for developing an unidimensional scale of benefit or drawback importance. It is a research method (Chrzan &Golovashkina, 2006), which analyzes both the best and the worst choice from a list containing multiple items. A set of items to be investigated was selected and we have presented the sets one at a time to respondents. In each set, the group was asked to examine the most salient or important attribute (the best) as well as the least important (the worst). Ratings of each item were esatablished on a five-point scale of Extremely Important, Very Important, Somewhat Important, Not Very Important, and Not at All Important. The group was asked to select the pair with the largest perceptual difference (Maximum Difference). MDS requires an experimental approach where each item is shown at least three times (Orme, 2005). The data were collected through a pilot project at the european level, which involved 30.000 (5.000 for each country) people, including doctors, members of different health care organizations, and patients. Research gap. The pilot project, starting from the existing data in the literature on the use of virtual communication and of social networks in health care organization, brings to light the fact that today health care organizations are using Facebook as a showcase, without exploiting its true potential. The paper identify to what extent European hospitals use social media and if the use of social networks such as communication systems in health care organization improves t

Abstract. The process of interaction between individuals, through the use of social media, is one of the most complex problems that theorists have had to analyse in recent years (Richards, 2007; Kolbitsch and Maurer, 2006; Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010; ecc.).Social media tools are becoming important in healthcare, transforming it in the process. Today many organizations, in the health sector, are facing a challenge: they must either choose to allow their operators to use this new method of communication with patients and their families or forbid it. The rapid changes that the diffusion of social media has had in the communication processes would undoubtedly impose a drastic change: the use of social media allows an instant sharing of ideas, opinions, knowledge and experiences, creating a new “space-time” dimension that would be translated in a new way (additional) to "cure" the patient (Hawn, 2009). Although there are many benefits and promises from social media, several risks are associated with their use. The ambiguity related to legal and ethical issues (for example the patient’s privacy) of social media at the same time contains the enthusiasm related to the potentialities that social media offer. In this paper we are going to analyse the risks and benefits of social media perceived in healthcare. Through an empirical study conducted on a sample of Italian physicians and patients we are going analyse some items (measured with Likert’s technique) that will allow us to define an "utility function" to measure and compare what they perceive as beneficial and what they perceive as a limit. This work can be useful for managers of healthcare organizations to understand that, if the perception of the presence of Health organizations on social media by doctors and patients is positive, the challenge is due and it must not only be organizational but, above all, cultural (Normann, 1996).

Social media tools are becoming an important presence in healthcare and transforming it in the process.Today many organizations, in the health sector, are faced a challenge: they must choose to allow their operators to use this new method of communication with patients and their families: the use of social media allow an instant sharing of ideas, opinions, knowledge and experiences, creating a new “space-time” dimension that would translate in a new way (additional) to "cure" the patient (Hawn, 2009). Although there are many benefits and promises from social media several risks are associated with their use. Through an empirical study conducted on a sample of European physicians and patients we’ll analyse some items (measured with Likert’s technique) that will allow us to compare what they perceive as beneficial and what they perceive as a limit. This work can be useful for managers of healthcare organization.

This paper aims to understand if knowledge sharing through social media is suitable for all types of cultures and if cultural dimensions can interfere or facilitate the diffusion of information.

Purpose - The landscape of recruitment is changing. The use of social media communication in the recruitment processes chosen by firms allows the selection of active and passive candidates, increasing competition and reducing the costs of recruitment. In this context also Latin American SME’s are facing intense efforts to adapt to change by becoming more prompt and efficient in achieving their recruiting goals. Sometimes, however, social media communication could contrast with the established norms and traditions of cultural dimensions of these countries. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between cultural dimensions and social media communication. Focusing on this correlation we can understand the role of new recruitment strategies as social recruitment, in Latin American countries compared to the rest of world. Design/methodology/approach - This paper proposes an empirical analysis that examines the effects of cultural values on social media by considering Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions. In particular, a multiple linear regression model was employed to test the hypotheses on a sample of sixty countries, of which twenty are Latin American countries. Findings - The results show that there is a correlation between cultural dimensions and social media communication. Considering that social media communication have a positive effects on recruitment in these countries, if government implemented effective policies to ensure social media access for all, Latin American small and medium enterprises could select “the best workers”. Research limitations/implications -. This work can be useful for managers to understand that the challenge is due and it must be not only organizational but, above all, cultural (Normann, 1996). Originality/value – The study represents an original contribution to understand if social media communication is a change driver strong enough to bring about a radical shift in recruitment processes and if it is able to generate positive effects in the Countries. Moreover, Latin American policy implications are discussed.

This book was born from the desire to analyze the role of social recruitment in human resources management. The first chapter analyzes theoretical background of social media communication and focuses on the trend to make use of these instruments in SMEs and public and non-profit sectors. The second chapter explores an analysis of social sphere through three perspectives: a) how it has changed the identity of individuals; b) the relationship between social media and aspects of personality; c) the correlation between social media and cultural dimensions. The third chapter, focuses on the advantages and limitations of social recruitment and examines how employer branding can used strategically in order to attract potential candidates. The relationship between social network and recruitment has been analyzed through empirical research on public and non-profit sector and SMEs (using Cranet data) in the fourth chapter. The last chapter analyzes the competitive advantage which social recruitment can generate.

Today to be competitive many organizations are increasing the sustainable practices into their strategic plan. This paper attempts to interpret the HRM practices in “green organization” through an longitudinal analysis of Cranet Network based on 1745 firms located in 10 countries in Europe. This study can be use as a guide for managers, giving an indication of the linkages between environmental strategy, human resource management and culture dimensions across European countries.

Abrastact. The process of interaction between individuals, through the use of social media, is one of the most complex problems that theorists have had to analyse in recent years (Richards, 2007; Kolbitsch and Maurer, 2006; Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010; ecc.). Social media tools are becoming an important presence in recruitment processes, transforming them. Today many organizations are facing a challenge: they must choose in order to allow their operators to use this new method of communication with their students and with firms or forbid it. The rapid changes that the diffusion of social media has had in the communication processes would undoubtedly impose a drastic change: the use of social media allow an instant sharing of ideas, opinions, knowledge and experiences, creating a new “space-time” dimension that could be translated in a new way (additional) to "recruit" workers. Although there are many benefits and promises from social media several risks are associated with their use. The ambiguity related to legal and ethical issues (for example individual privacy) of social media, at the same time, contains the enthusiasm related to the potentialities that social media offer. In particular this chapter intendes analyzing the perceived risks and benefits of social media in job placement of Universities in four contries (Italy, Switzerland, Austria and Germany). The chapter aims at providing an analysis of the phenomenon of social recruitment in Universities through the analysis of the percentage of presence and survival of these social networks and the use of this instrument for the placement of graduates in companies. It can be useful for managers of universities and firms to understand whether the presence of Universities on social media by students and firms is positive or not.

In today’s economics, the fact that information is a major factor of production and of increasing importance as a source of competitive advantage is a generally accepted truism. The trend towards global markets has strongly impacted the competitive situation of many enterprises. Never has the economic environment been subject to so many drastic and rapid changes. This put new weight factors on the requirements for design of business process. This paper explores the case of an Italian legal office that has studied more and more innovative solutions both to satisfy the demands of the clienteles and to oppose the action of the new competitors. Comparing classic models and the theories of Porter with the characteristics and needs of new economy, it shows as the ability to possess, to easily have access, to creatively use of information constitutes one of the more strategic sources of the competitive advantage.

The explosion of social media communication over the past 15 years has brought about numerous changes in every type of activity. The use of the new system of communication has altered the nature of competition, accelerating the flow of information, of new products and of services in all the world. This has encouraged managers of a lot of firms to re-examine the way of communication to recruit workers. In this context also the University’s main goal is changed. It becomes necessary to encourage graduates to enter the job market, guaranteeing their placement also with the support of innovative communication tools. This paper examines the development of social media communication as a source of competitive advantage for placement in University of Arab world.