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Public safety personnel (law enforcement, firefighters, emergency medical services and dispatchers) face work environments which are high stress. These can lead to burnout, secondary traumatic stress and a reduction of compassion satisfaction. However, very little is known about what individual and work factors influence these negative coping mechanisms in public safety personnel. It is also unknown how perceived organizational and coworker support, debriefing methods, or individual characteristics are associated with the aforementioned coping mechanisms. The differences between these fields are also unknown. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

A cross-sectional administration of surveys to Florida public safety personnel was done. A total of 1,360 public safety individuals completed the survey. Three regression analyses were carried out, utilizing the three Professional Quality of Life Version 5 subscales as the dependent variables. The Perceived Coworker Support Survey, Survey of Perceived Organizational Support, the Brief Resilience Survey and questions regarding debriefing practices were included.

Public safety personnel cannot be treated as a singular population for many things. An exception of this was that perceived organizational support and psychological resilience were associated with positive outcomes, albeit, to varying degrees in all fields. The other individual and organizational factors had very distinct impacts on the varying fields.

There are limitations due to the nature of cross-sectional survey design and due to the sample size.

This study displays statistical relationships between factors which public safety agencies could use to increase employee job satisfaction and potentially reduce turnover. It was the only study the authors could find which include dispatchers when comparing these four public safety fields.

Personnel who work in emergency medical services (EMS) face work environments which are high stress. These can lead to burnout, secondary traumatic stress (STS), and a reduction of compassion satisfaction (CS). However, very little is known about what individual and work factors influence these negative coping mechanisms in EMS personnel. It is also unknown how perceived organizational and coworker support, debriefing methods, or individual characteristics are associated with the aforementioned coping mechanisms in EMS personnel. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

A cross-sectional administration of surveys to Florida EMS personnel was done. A total of 351 individuals who regularly performed EMS tasks completed the survey. Three regression analyses were carried out, utilizing the three ProQOL 5 subscales as the dependent variables. The Perceived Coworker Support survey, Survey of Perceived Organizational Support, the Brief Resilience Survey and questions regarding debriefing practices were included.

Both organizational support and psychological resilience were found to be related to higher CS as well as lower burnout and STS. Coworker support was associated with higher CS. Informal debriefing was associated with higher CS and lower burnout. Several individual factors were also statistically significant, specifically education with CS, being a volunteer and race with burnout, and working part time or volunteering with STS.

There are limitations due to the nature of cross-sectional survey design and due to the sample size. The varying circumstances which EMS personnel work also hinders generalizability.

This study displays statistical relationships between factors which EMS agencies could use to increase employee job satisfaction and potentially reduce turnover.

The purpose of this article was to identify factors impacting burnout, resilience and quality of life in rural career firefighters. In addition, sources of stress and the impact of generational differences were explored.

An exploratory cross-sectional survey was conducted at a rural career fire department.

The findings of the project indicate that the firefighters had high levels of compassion satisfaction (CS) and relatively low levels of secondary traumatic stress and burnout; displayed moderate to high psychological resilience and the majority felt moderate to high organizational support, but there was a noticeable minority who did not feel supported by the department. Findings indicate that organizational support is significantly related to both burnout and resilience. The majority of the men (88.3%) reported moderate to high risk for alcohol-related problems and over three-quarters (78.6%) reported binge drinking behavior in the past year. Qualitative findings highlight generational differences and chain of command challenges as primary stressors.

This is a unique study in that it focuses on a rural career department. What was found were issues similar to those facing urban career fire departments.

The purpose of this paper is to determine a baseline level of the Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL 5) in emergency dispatchers in the state of Florida, as well as to examine the how it is associated with psychological resilience, perceived coworker support, different types of debriefing, and perceived organizational support.

This was done through a cross-sectional administration of surveys to emergency telecommunicators and dispatchers in the state of Florida.

In total, 186 surveys were completed by active emergency dispatch personnel across the state of Florida. The study found that psychological resilience, education, and perceived organizational support were statistically related to professional quality of life in Florida Dispatchers.

There are limitations due to the nature of cross-sectional survey design and due to the sample size. There are also possible issues with the accuracy of self-reported survey answers. The lack of participation from all agencies also hinders generalizability.

This study serves as a reference point for a very under studied emergency service population. There are also implications that psychological resilience development in dispatch personnel would assist in multiple aspects of their professional quality of life.

This is the first study to use the ProQOL 5 on dispatch personnel in Florida. It also displays statistical relationships between factors which dispatch agencies could use to increase employee job satisfaction and potentially reduce turnover.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework for an enlightened management and governance praxis against a backdrop of cognitive and motivational biases promoting a reflected international capital budgeting decision process. Furthermore, societally relevant questions are raised whether these biases might have an effect on various stakeholders in public–private partnerships. Recurring failures of international business investments motivate reflective, cognitive and socio-constructivist perspectives on the international capital budgeting process.

Based on an interdisciplinary literature review and substantiated by empirical studies, the cognitive biases and flaws of the international capital budgeting process are discussed making use of a five-stage process scheme. The article applies the interpretative paradigm and regards the international capital budgeting process stages as a socio-political process of reality construction and critically assesses the motives of its actors. Consequently, the authors develop and discuss three principle-based behavioural rationalisation factors.

International capital budgeting is not a process of rational choice but of social construction of reality. Reflective prudence, critical communication and independence are three rationalisation factors which could, if applied along the five stages of the international capital budgeting process, systematically lead to de-biasing and thus enhance the performative praxis of international investment decisions.

The international capital budgeting process deals with the construction of future scenarios under uncertainty and assessment of potential success and failure of future projects. The defined (or any other) rationalisation factors are subject to cultural biases and can naturally not guarantee successful investment projects. Although the success of the application of various de-biasing tactics was empirically confirmed, the aggregated rationalisation factors of the paper have not been tested.

The paper is aimed at enhancing the reflective understanding and the performative praxis of the international capital budgeting process. The practical recommendations aggregated in the rationalisation factors are explicitly elaborated for international business practitioners.

Societally relevant questions are raised whether systematic biases have an effect on various stakeholders in international public–private partnerships. Especially in large investment projects, where capturing private value might be boosted by actively exploiting biases of the public decision makers, active stakeholder engagement could enhance the social and ecological value of investments.

The article provides a rare interdisciplinary literature review on cognitive biases in the international capital budgeting process. It critically reflects the social construction of it various stages and its social repercussions and develops practical rationalisation factors for an enhancement of the international capital budgeting process as a performative praxis.

The support of host country nationals (HCNs) is a key determinant of expatriate adjustment and performance. The purpose of this paper is to explore underlying motivations for their support to expatriates. Previous research has shown that HCNs with pro-social motivation are more likely to help expatriates. Drawing upon motivated information processing in groups (MIP-G) theory, the authors test whether epistemic motivation moderates the observed relationship between pro-social motivation and HCNs’ support toward expatriates.

The authors ran two correlational studies (N = 267) in the USA (Study 1) and South Korea (Study 2). Across two studies, epistemic motivation and social motivation were measured using their multiple proxies validated in previous research. The authors also measured HCNs’ willingness to offer role information and social support to a hypothetical expatriate worker.

Results lend support to our hypotheses that pro-social HCNs are more willing than pro-self HCNs to provide role information and social support to the expatriates, but this occurs only when they have high rather than low epistemic motivation.

The current paper contributes the literature on HCNs helping expatriates by qualifying the prior results that a pro-social motivation (e.g. agreeableness and collectivism) increases the willingness of HCNs to help expatriates. As hypothesized, this study found that that case is only true when HCNs have high, rather than low, epistemic motivation. Also, previous research on MIP-G theory has mainly focused on the performance of small groups (e.g. negotiation, creativity and decision-making). To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first attempt to test MIP-G theory in the context of HCNs helping expatriates.

The study addresses gaps in sustainable luxury consumption research by analyzing the role of social norms in different cultural settings. It investigates how social norms, self-control, conspicuousness and future orientation shape sustainable luxury consumption in individualistic (UK) versus collectivist (China) national cultures.

The study was based on survey data from British and Chinese luxury product consumers collected through online panels. The final sample included 452 valid responses from the UK and 414 from China. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling.

The study found that descriptive norms positively influence sustainable luxury consumption in individualistic (UK) and collectivist (China) cultures. Injunctive norms affect sustainable consumption only in the UK. Future consequences universally impact sustainable consumption. Conspicuous consumption negatively affects preferences for sustainable luxury brands. Self-control enhances the impact of descriptive norms in the UK but reduces the impact of injunctive norms in China.

This study uniquely explores how social norms and cultural influences impact sustainable luxury consumption in individualistic and collectivistic societies. It highlights the moderating role of national culture, providing actionable insights for luxury brands to enhance sustainable consumption with culturally tailored strategies. The research challenges the universality of the theory of normative social behavior, advocating for its refined application across different cultures.

This chapter examines the potential corelation between technologically led changes in media ecologies and changes in mediated mobilisation compared to the traditional forms of citizen mobilisation, namely political protest mobilisation. Based on previous empirical research on the Aganaktismenoi movement (Zestanaki, 2019), I investigate the effect this new form of mass mobilisation has on participants' political sophistication with an emphasis on the measurable indication or political efficacy, a recognised political communication tool. I argue that mobilising large crowds within an ideological void enabled by the heavily mediatised current environment is becoming a challenging democratic endeavour. This approach opens new possibilities for a multiparadigm, more advanced research on media sociology and political communication, from a critical intellectual perspective.

This chapter outlines potential steps to take in designing active learning experiences based on several theories underlying the learning process. The chapter examines theories of learning and instruction including information processing, schema acquisition, and cognitive load theory. Next follows an explanation of how these theories support problem-centered learning as well as a rationale for the need to help learners develop domain-general, flexible problem-solving skills that will transfer to future needs and contexts. The second half of the chapter focuses on designing active learning experiences based on the selection of real-world problems as the foundation for learning, activating prior knowledge, demonstration of the process or concept, multiple opportunities for practice with relevant scaffolding, and the chance to integrate that knowledge into the learners’ own context based on M. D. Merrill’s (2002) First Principles of Instruction. Examples of assessments, strategies, and activities to foster active, problem-centered learning drawn from the literature are also provided.