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This paper aims to investigate the impact of social features of an inter-organizational network on organizational learning and, in turn, on its performance. Specifically, this paper focuses on the following social features: proximity among members, trust among members, trust in network management, commitment among members, members’ engagement and exchange of information.

This paper is based on evidence from a survey involving 101 organizations that integrate the Cooperation Networks established in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The authors analyze data by using exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Furthermore, they advance to also measuring “subjective” variables to business excellence.

The authors find that trust in network management and information exchange is positively associated with organizational learning. In turn, organizational learning appears to impact network members’ performance positively. Arguably, no results about the impact of proximity among members, trust among members and commitment among members are interesting to activate a discussion on the role of region cultural dimensions in shaping the impact of social features underlying the inter-organizational networks on organizational learning.

This study can be enriched by considering moderating variables in the relationships between the social conditions underlying inter-organizational network and learning.

The authors critically discuss the social features underlying the inter-organizational networks that impact learning among network members and how these aspects may be addressed to improve performance.

Given the focus of this empirical analysis, the authors advance the idea that regional culture is the layer of culture that most powerfully inspires the social features of networks, and shapes organizational learning.

This paper aims to explore the latent structure of the literature on interorganizational network and innovation as well as to map the main themes and empirical advances in this research stream.

Using bibliometric coupling, the authors analyze the citation patterns in 67 management studies regarding innovation networks, published in ISI-journals from January 1996 to October 2012.

The authors identify the conceptual orientations that studies share. Bibliometric analysis allows us to draw an overview of how this field of research has developed, recognizing in essence six main clustered research themes: networks as a framework that sustains firm innovativeness in specific contexts; network dimensions and knowledge processes; networks as a means to access and share resources/knowledge; the interplay between firm and network characteristics and its effects on innovative processes; empirical research on networks in highly dynamic industries; and the influence of industry knowledge domain’s peculiarities on network dimensions and characteristics.

By providing a comprehensive survey of current trends in the literature on interorganizational network and innovation, the authors eventually identify the major gaps in our knowledge and help refocusing the current research agenda in this increasingly relevant research stream.

The systematic introduction to the field of innovation networks is of notable interest to scholars and practitioners, who have (or desire to have) some awareness in the topic. Here, practitioners may find their compass to acquire some knowledge on innovation networks and orient their choices.

First, the spatially organized picture of the intellectual structure of the literature the authors offer is the initial thought-out comprehensive introduction to the field of on interorganizational network and innovation. Second, by developing a thorough bibliometric analysis of the extant bulk of the innovation networks literature, the authors develop specific methodological contribution. Third, we are able to map the intellectual structure in a two-dimensional space to visualize spatial distances between intellectual themes.

This paper aims to synthesize, analyze and categorize the empirical literature on country-specific factors that affect foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Identifying gaps and methodological challenges in the reviewed articles, recommendations are made to guide future research.

Applying the systematic review methodology, content analysis is conducted of 42 relevant empirical studies that explore country-specific FDI determinants in the MENA region during the period 1998–2018.

This review study identifies four main research gaps in the extant literature: a lack of consensus on a common definition of the MENA region and a weak understanding of the specificities of its investment environment; a limited set of FDI theories used and a lack of other theoretical perspectives; a recurrent focus on the direct relationship between host country–specific determinants and FDI, thus ignoring the moderating and mediating effects of some variables; and the absence of certain country-specific factors pertaining to the MENA countries.

This study contributes to the international business field by enhancing our understanding of the FDI determinants in emerging and developing markets, especially the MENA countries. It develops a typology of FDI country-specific factors in the MENA region based on four main categories: macroeconomic and financial, institutional and regulatory, natural resource endowment and socio-cultural. Paths for future research are suggested.

Following the Arab Spring turmoil, Middle East and North African (MENA) countries’ overall instability has significantly increased which resulted in the decrease of foreign direct investment (FDI) flows. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the research on determinants of FDI inflows to the MENA region by examining the relationship between state fragility and FDI.

A panel data analysis was conducted to study the impact of Fragile States Index (FSI) and its components, namely economic, social and political/military state fragility, on FDI inflows to seven MENA countries situated in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean (SEMED) region over the period 2006-2016.

The results show that the increase of political state fragility deters FDI inflows to SEMED countries. By contrast, their economic and social state fragilities are insignificant for FDI. This could be explained by the fact that investors are usually attracted by government stability and a strong investment profile.

Given the fact that previous research has not yet validated FSI as a new FDI determinant, the results should be interpreted with some caution. It may also be worth examining the impact of FSI on FDI by industry sector in future studies.

The results reveal that FSI could help MNEs investing in the MENA region assess and better manage the economic, social and political/military risks they face.

This study introduces a new FDI determinant and stresses the importance of state fragility in attracting FDI.

The purpose of this paper is to relate the phenomenon of migration to the Federal District (DF, Brazil), with the figures for institutional shelter of children and adolescents.

The method chosen was the documental analysis of special folders that were processed in the Defense Office for Children and Adolescents of the DF from January 2007 to August 2009. The sample consisted of 545 special folders, referring to a total of 1,007 children and adolescents.

The results indicate that most children and adolescents received at the shelters were from families living in the satellite cities of the DF (53.4 percent) and surroundings (8.3 percent), and were mainly from rural areas of the Northeast region of the country and also from the deprived areas of the states of Goiás and Minas Gerais, near the DF. Among the main reasons for institutional shelter, is violence, abandonment by family, poverty and living on the streets.

It can be inferred that the policies of “population clusters” in the DF were responsible for this migratory process and population growth of satellite cities and surrounding areas. It is understood in this way that the migration processes resulted in the rupture of the bond with the family of origin and an insertion into a reality, which again challenge these families in a situation of poverty and violence.

The reality of vulnerability and social exclusion of migrant families who leave their support networks in their home states need urgent attention of local public policies, especially with regard to encouraging the construction of other support networks and creating contexts of cultural identification in the communities, especially the neediest. The support and presence of quality public services in these communities and the preventive action of social policies are also considered essential to ensure quality of life and adequate subsistence to the people who migrate to the DF.

Brasília became the symbol of hope for unemployed people or for those suffering from their income being below the poverty level. Faced with this migratory reality, this paper discusses the situation of families of children and adolescents institutionally sheltered in the DF, given their social situation regarding poverty, unemployment, lack of support from their family of origin and lack of access of distribution of public policies and income generation.

In developing country contexts, it has become difficult to imagine the word ‘conservation’ without ‘community’ sitting alongside it, as their combination is part of the international conservation and development lexicon. Community-based conservation (CBC) encompasses several core principles, including: involving communities in decision-making; devolving control over resource management; developing community institutions for management; incorporating traditional or local knowledge; legitimising community property rights; linking environment and development objectives and providing incentives for conservation (Barrow & Murphree, 2001; Kellert, Mehta, Ebbin, & Litchtenfeld, 2000; Songorwa, 1999; Western & Wright, 1994). All of these are employed with the aims of overcoming the limitations associated with traditional ‘top-down’ approaches to conservation (Adams & Hulme, 2001; Campbell, 2002a). Ideally, CBC should benefit both people and environments, contributing to both development and conservation. In this way CBC is directly aligned to wider discourses of sustainability and to innovations in the field of conserving natural resources.

Healthcare organisations are often described as less innovative than other organisations, since organisational culture works against innovations. In this paper, the authors ask whether it has to be that way or whether is possible to nurture an innovative culture in a healthcare organisation. The aim of this paper is to describe and analyse nurturing an innovative culture within a healthcare organisation and how culture can support innovations in such a healthcare organisation.

Based on a qualitative case study of a healthcare unit that changed, within a few years, from having no innovations to repeatedly generating innovations, the authors describe important aspects of how innovative culture can be nurtured in healthcare. Data were analysed using inductive and deductive analysis steps.

The study shows that it is possible to nurture an innovative culture in a healthcare organisation. Relationships and competences beyond healthcare, empowering structures and signalling the importance of innovation work with resources all proved to be important. All are aspects that a manager can influence. In this case, the manager's role in nurturing innovative culture was very important.

This study highlights that an innovative culture can be nurtured in healthcare organisations and that managers can play a key role in such a process.

The paper describes and analyses an innovative culture in a healthcare unit and identifies important conditions and strategies for nurturing innovative culture in healthcare organisations.

Testing boundaries in the context of encountering horror representations have long been of interest to cultural studies scholars. There have been rich cultural accounts of how audiences negotiate with what is frightening or disgusting on screen (Hill, 2005) not just in general but also in what concerns specific social groups as well (e.g. children, Buckingham, 2000). Horror, disgust and the emotion of fear have not been examined in the Greek context so far and it is our aim to attempt a first investigation of how certain groups of viewers engage with the horror genre. We draw upon the argument that fear from encountering horror is a socially based emotion through which people do not just test their own boundaries but also their boundaries within a group of peers (Hill, 2005). Given that women are stereotypically thought to be more afraid than men, we are particularly interested to see how women aged between 20 and 35 in Greece engage with fear or disgust in the mainstreamed context of the horror offered by American Horror Story. We are particularly interested in the ways they perceive horror but also deadly women or female villains. Our interest in this particular series lies not only in its popularity across the world but also because of its nature as a representative series of the horror genre and because all different narratives it offers are mostly based on female characters primarily as villains. Also, as a text available across different cultures, it could probably allow us to engage with cross-cultural research in the future. Therefore we wish to conduct an online survey with women aged 20–35 in Greece, followed by focus groups with women of the same age group in an attempt to provide both a mapping and a further investigation of the topic.

This paper applies systems thinking modelling to enhance the dynamic understanding of how to nurture an innovative culture in healthcare organisations to develop the innovation system in practice and speed up the innovative work. The model aims to provide a holistic view of a studied healthcare organisation's innovation processes, ranging from managerial values to its manifestation in improved results.

The study is based on empirical material from a healthcare unit that, within a few years, changed from having no innovations to repeatedly generating innovations. The study uses the modelling language of causal loop diagrams (CLDs) in the system dynamics methodology to identify the key important aspects found in the empirical material.

The proposed model, based on the stories of the interviewees, explores the dynamics of inertia when nurturing an innovative culture, identifying delays attributed to the internal change processes and system relationships. These findings underscored the need for perseverance when developing an innovative culture in the entrepreneurial phases.

The approach of using systems thinking to make empirical healthcare research results more tangible through the visual notations of CLDs and mental simulations is believed to support exploring complex phenomena to induce and nurture both individual and organisational learning.

The results from this approach provide deepened analysis and provoke the systems view to explain how the nurturing of the culture can accelerate the innovation processes, which helps practitioners and researchers to further expand their understanding of their healthcare contexts.