Purpose: Human resources management directed at improving job satisfaction has become a subject of growing interest in both the professional world and the academic world, and is justified by the impact that satisfaction has on business performance. The main objective of this work is to determine empirically the factors that have an impact on the satisfaction of Spanish workers, as well as to compare the existence of differences in the key dimensions of satisfaction according to workers' gender.Design/methodology/approach: Of the study sample, only information pertaining to Spain was selected. Of 413 specific cases, 668 per cent were male and 33.2 per cent female. A factor analysis was conducted on those variables which could impact on an individual's job satisfaction. These aspects were considered through an 11‐item questionnaire.Findings: The results obtained in this research show that the job satisfaction of Spanish workers is an element that is susceptible to improvement. Moreover, it is observed that the level of job satisfaction is determined by four factors: “economic aspects”, “interpersonal relations”, “working conditions”, and “personal fulfilment”. A subsequent analysis according to workers' gender shows that although men and women take into account the same dimensions, the degree to which each dimension has an impact is different for each sub‐sample.Research limitations/implications: The sample used refers to a Spanish case. In the future it would be interesting to extend this and include other countries.Practical implications: The main results of this study are a knowledge of the variables that affect the level of employee satisfaction, which should be useful to the management of companies, and those that should be considered in order to take better advantage of the competitive opportunities that can provide a company with motivated to committed staff.Originality/value: This study analyzes factors that determine job satisfaction according to the worker's gender.

SummaryPrevious studies have provided mixed evidence on the relationship between internationalisation and firm performance. We advance theoretically in this line of research by investigating the impact of the family dimension of a business on this relationship. Using a panel data analysis for the 2006–2011 period, we find empirically that Spanish family SMEs follow a W-curve. Our findings highlight the importance of differentiating family from non-family firms, and provide a potential explanation for the previous mixed evidence

The main objective of this paper is to analyse the impact of gender in adopting and using new information and communication technologies (ICTs) in Spain. It is widely accepted that men tend to be the first to use new technologies and to gain significant benefits from doing so, both at home and work. However, further research on gender and new technologies, such as ICTs, is still needed in order to better understand differences between men and women. On the one hand we show that percentage of ICTs users is higher among men. On the other hand, our results confirm that women also present lower frequency of ICTs use. We examine how the differences in adoption and use of ICTs are moderated by cultural and socioeconomic aspects. Differences appear mainly in the lower levels of education and in the rural area. Therefore, it highlights the necessity of taking into account those aspects to remove the gender digital divide totally. We also underline the importance of changes in gender roles and the increase of the participation of women in the Spanish labour force.

RESUMEN El ámbito educativo ha incorporado gradualmente las oportunidades ofrecidas por las Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación (TIC). Si bien este dato resulta positivo, desde el punto de vista organizativo, es necesario complementar la implantación de las TIC con una estrategia global e integradora que aporte coherencia entre los aspectos puramente tecnológicos y los modelos educativos, para alcanzar resultados superiores. El presente trabajo ofrece una revisión de la importancia de las TIC en el ámbito educativo, centrando la atención en la necesidad de ajuste estratégico en el contexto universitario, como elemento de mejora en la adaptación a las necesidades competitivas de las universidades. Para alcanzar este objetivo, se lleva a cabo una revisión de la literatura sobre las TIC y su impacto, se resumen las principales recomendaciones para su óptima utilización en el proceso de enseñanza aprendizaje y se ofrece una reflexión sobre el papel estratégico de estas herramientas.

Purpose: The present study aims to provide new evidence regarding the factors that determine the survival of firms in the Spanish wine industry and to improve the understanding of sector dynamics.Design/methodology/approach: The empirical analysis, conducted over a representative sample of wineries in the DOC Rioja wine industry, is based on non-parametric (Kaplan–Meier graph) and semi-parametric survival models (Cox proportional hazard model).Findings: The empirical model finds that wineries with a higher number of networks with institutions enjoy better survival prospects. This study also shows that a winery’s previous performance affects the winery’s survival probability; therefore, successful wineries in the past encounter a smaller hazard of exit. Although spending on R&D and exporting are factors likely to improve wineries' efficiency and competitiveness, these factors did not contribute significantly to the survival of DOC Rioja wineries.Originality/value: This paper makes a significant contribution to the understanding of the determinants of wineries' survival and has important policy implications. In order to raise the probability of survival, policy makers should promote the networks that link wineries and institutions. Moreover, this study is based on survival analysis which, although frequently used in medical and behavioural sciences, has rarely been applied to wine economics. Finally, it uses a unique data set obtained from primary data collection, which previous studies have not analysed in relation to the probability of winery survival.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the contribution of women to rural development through cooperativism. To this end, we study the development of a group of cooperatives characterized by their female profile. The data are obtained from interviews with women who assume a key role on the selected entities, all located in the province of Teruel. The aim is to obtain information, from a historical perspective, of the evolution and perception of women about their future just at the time identified as the beginning of the economic crisis. The objective of this research is to examine whether cooperatives are a development tool that could prevent rural environments depopulation, encourage progress through female employment and support sustainability in deprived areas.