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In South Africa, women in senior management positions experience social identity dilemmas, necessitating more research into this domain. While research has been conducted into coaching and mentoring of these women, limited scholarly attention has been paid to sponsorship. This paper aims to explore the social identity of women at senior management levels and sponsorship as a proposed mechanism to develop talented women.

This qualitative research included two studies using two sample groups, both of which included executive-level respondents in corporate organisations. One study focussed on sponsorship; here, the 29-strong sample included 14 male and 15 female executives, of whom 15 were White; 9 were African and 5 were Indian. The second study, consisting of only African, coloured and Indian (ACI) female executives (23 interviewees), focussed more broadly on their development path to the C-suite.

A common theme across the two studies was the inclination to give developmental support, in turn, once supported. There were prerequisites in this support-giving, however. For example, sponsors identified criteria that protégés had to meet. Despite evident gender inequality at senior management levels in South Africa, this paper reveals that in the Study 1 sample, gender and race were ostensibly irrelevant when choosing a sponsor or who to sponsor. A closer examination revealed a gender-based expectation, embedded in the South African context. Study 2 showed that ACI women above 50 years of age were more inclined to mentor others; even when they themselves were not mentored, some purposefully developed other ACI women. This paper thus suggests age as an important additional diversity dimension in relation to the career development of ACI women towards the C-suite. The findings have implications for the career development of individual ACI women and for organisations in reaching equality.

Gender differences with regard to perceptions also revealed that male respondents perceived sponsorship more as task-based actions, whereas female respondents focussed on relational elements. The paper concludes with recommendations on how individual ACI women and organisations can proactively develop talented women.

The paper offers insight into the gendered expectations of sponsors and gendered perceptions around merit in identifying protégés worthy of sponsorship. ACI women’s social identity changed when they joined the C-suite to identify more with their roles as executives and became less associated with their original ACI women group.

To further our insight into the role of networks in health system reform, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how one agency, the NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation (ACI), and the multiple networks and enabling resources that it encompasses, govern, manage and extend the potential of networks for healthcare practice improvement.

This is a case study investigation which took place over ten months through the first author’s participation in network activities and discussions with the agency’s staff about their main objectives, challenges and achievements, and with selected services around the state of New South Wales to understand the agency’s implementation and large system transformation activities.

The paper demonstrates that ACI accommodates multiple networks whose oversight structures, self-organisation and systems change approaches combined in dynamic ways, effectively yield a diversity of network governances. Further, ACI bears out a paradox of “centralised decentralisation”, co-locating agents of innovation with networks of implementation and evaluation expertise. This arrangement strengthens and legitimates the role of the strategic hybrid – the healthcare professional in pursuit of change and improvement, and enhances their influence and impact on the wider system.

While focussing the case study on one agency only, this study is unique as it highlights inter-network connections. Contributing to the literature on network governance, this paper identifies ACI as a “network of networks” through which resources, expectations and stakeholder dynamics are dynamically and flexibly mediated and enhanced.

The co-location of and dynamic interaction among clinical networks may create synergies among networks, nurture “strategic hybrids”, and enhance the impact of network activities on health system reform.

Network governance requires more from network members than participation in a single network, as it involves health service professionals and consumers in a multi-network dynamic. This dynamic requires deliberations and collaborations to be flexible, and it increasingly positions members as “strategic hybrids” – people who have moved on from singular taken-as-given stances and identities, towards hybrid positionings and flexible perspectives.

This paper is novel in that it identifies a critical feature of health service reform and large system transformation: network governance is empowered through the dynamic co-location of and collaboration among healthcare networks, particularly when complemented with “enabler” teams of people specialising in programme implementation and evaluation.

This paper aims to use a derivative of genetic programming to predict the bond strength of glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars in concrete under the effects of design guidelines. In developing bond strength prediction models, this paper prioritized simplicity and meaningfulness over extreme accuracy.

Assessing the bond strength of GFRP bars in concrete is a critical issue in designing and building reinforced concrete structures.

Ultimately, the equation of a linear form of a particular design guideline was suggested as the optimal prediction model. Improvements to the current design guidelines suggested by this model include setting a 1.31 magnification and considering the effects of the three significant parameters of bar diameter (db), minimum cover-to-bar diameter (C/db) and development length to bar diameter (l/db) under an acceptable root mean square error accuracy of around 2 MPa. Furthermore, the model suggests that the original influence parameter of concrete compressive strength (f_c) may be removed from bond strength calculations.

The model suggests that the original influence parameter of concrete compressive strength (f_c) may be removed from bond strength calculations.

The paper uses a relational view of strategy framework to measure and assess the sustainable success of base of the pyramid (BoP) projects. The authors posit that the relational view is a powerful way to determine if a firm's project might lead to sustainable competitive advantage, because if partner resources combine to create relation‐specific capabilities and competences, they may provide sustainable value, and the paper applies this method of strategic analysis to selected BoP projects.

The paper separates the secondary data analysis from the primary data analysis and offers four propositions, based on the combined relational view and BoP criteria. The authors apply the relational view framework to two BoP projects from Michigan‐based organizations. Each case is analysed using the framework, and the authors discuss how the resources of each of the BoP project partners create value, how tailored and scalable the projects are, how BoP end user needs are addressed, what resources partners contribute, and if the relation‐specific combination of resources create project level capabilities that are sustainable.

The sustainable success of BoP projects may be best achieved when the BoP project partners contribute valuable resources and when those resources combine to create relation‐specific capabilities that create sustainable success. It reinforces the importance of scale, BoP user needs, and engaging BoP customers as partners.

This paper tries to help explain why some BoP projects successfully create a sustainable competitive advantage, by building on strategic themes and using a variation of the relational view framework to examine resources and capabilities of the organizations that partner to serve people at the BoP.

Examines some of the economic implications of persistently excluding women in Sub‐Saharan Africa from access to literacy, arguing that women can not fulfil their full potential both on an individuals and state level without this. Introduces the concept of “femanomics”, which is the enhancement of the status of women by positive intervention. Advocates the implementation of effective literacy policies geared towards social reconstruction, linking educational empowerment with women’s economic independence and provide an outline of areas which require attention.

Introduces literacy as the key to women having equal participation in development and decision making processes. Discusses the ways literacy is linked to power and goes on to highlight three social macro functions of literacy which reflect inequality, the identification of literacy, conservation of history and the construction of literacy. Concludes that through changes in these areas power can be redefined and distributed more equally.

The purpose of this study is to conduct a systematic study of important research trends and published electronic word of mouth (eWOM) studies over the past 20 years in the emerging economy. This research is designed to identify the key areas of eWOM based on the Antecedents-Consequence-Intervention (ACI) framework. This paper is also aimed to analyze the current research status of each WOM area and critically review each area for developing future research directions.

616 articles were selected from 112 journals for in-depth review analysis. For the systematic review of articles, an ACI framework was adopted. This paper used systematic review analysis methodology to critically analyze important research studies in each area of the ACI framework with a set of research questions.

Results identify six significant areas of eWOM, i.e. WOM antecedents, outcomes, senders, receivers, eWOM platform and eWOM management representing the whole environment. The result highlights increasing research interest on mixed eWOM and rich eWOM content and market-level source credibility factors. Research also identifies research gaps based on the ACI framework.

Analyzing the recent trends in the eWOM environment with the SLR approach and linking these trends to the ACI framework with a future research agenda in the emerging market indicated a pioneering attempt in eWOM research.

The purpose of this paper is to describe an addition to the practice placement design for occupational therapy students in Oslo, and to report on the learning experiences related to this modified practice placement design among the participants.

Occupational therapy students and practice educators were interviewed in focus groups after having participated in an exploration of the utility of the Assessment of Communication and Interaction Skills during mental health placement. Thematic analysis was applied to the data material.

Four themes emerged relating to the students’ learning experiences during practice placement. They were theory-practice integration; the role of supervision; self-awareness of communication; and socialization to the therapist role.

The practice placement design addition presented in this paper was well received by students and practice educators. It contributed to students’ focussed experience and to their active participation within a community of practice. The program appears to be one way of organizing placement with a potential for making a substantial contribution to occupational therapy students’ learning.

The study adds to the existing literature in providing an example of a successful addition to the practice placement design, and in the detailed account of the learning experiences among the participants.

This paper aims to put forward a labelling system capable of reflecting the level of different Industry 4.0 (I4.0)features present in a manufacturing system and further propose a comparative index to collectively estimate and compare the system automation level.

Data for the empirical study were collected from interactions with the practising managers and experts. A relationship among the six I4.0 features is developed with fuzzy cognitive maps.

The paper proposed a simple and easy-to-understand labelling system for I4.0 systems, which indicates the automation level in each of six dimensions of any manufacturing system. The system is further strengthened by a proposed automation comparative index (ACI), which collectively reflects the automation level on a scale of “0” to “1”. Thus, the labelling system and parameter could help in comparing the level of automation in the manufacturing system and further decision-making.

Only seven industrial sectors are illustrated in the paper, but the proposed concept of the classification scheme and ACI find their applicability on a large spectrum of industries; thus, the concept can be extended to other industrial sectors. Furthermore, a threshold value of ACI is a differentiator between a I4.0 and other automated systems. Both aspects have the scope of further work.

The way and pace by which the industrial world takes forward the concept of I4.0, soon it will need a labelling system and a parameter to assess the automation level of any automated system. The scheme assesses the automation level present in a manufacturing system. It will also estimate the level of the presence of each of all six attributes of an I4.0 system. Both labelling system and ACI will be the practical tools in the hands of the practising managers to help compare, identify the thrust areas and make decisions accordingly.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study of its kind that proposed the labelling system and automation comparison index for I4.0 systems.

Zoos are important urban tourism attractions. The challenge for zoos is finding a balance between attracting visitors and enhancing education and conservation management. This research contributes to a greater understanding of the conservation intentions of zoo visitors and how zoos can emphasise conservation management principles sustainably. This study aims to identify the variables that encourage conservation intentions among visitors to a South African zoo.

A destination-based survey was conducted in 2019 at the Johannesburg Zoo, and 445 questionnaires were administered through convenience sampling.

Exploratory factor analyses identified visitors’ conservation awareness because of zoos (pre-conscious, conscious and unconscious), behavioural intentions (advocating and supporting), motives (engagement, edutainment and escapism) and satisfaction (interaction and facility quality, and service and interpretation quality). The behavioural intentions were the dependent variables. Advocating conservation intentions (ACI) is an active role where zoo visitors feel a strong responsibility towards conservation and encourage others to the conservation cause. Supporting conservation intentions (SCI) relates more to loyalty towards visiting the zoo and subsequently supporting conservation. Stepwise linear regression analyses revealed that enhancing ACI relies on SCI, edutainment, conscious awareness, service and interpretation quality and total spending. However, enhancing SCI relies on ACI, interaction and facility quality and the motive, escapism, while engagement revealed a negative relationship.

The results show that zoos can encourage SCI to ACI by using interactive and entertaining interpretations to teach visitors about the zoo’s mandate and the importance of conservation while balancing their need to escape.