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Critiques of elites define populism, which conceives of power relations as a unified, conspiring elite exploiting the good people. Yet, populism itself is inherently elitist, calling for a strong leader to take power and channel the will of the people. Elite theory, surprisingly overlooked in scholarship on populism, can clarify this apparent paradox and elucidate the dimensions of populism and its risk of authoritarianism in new ways. In contrast to populist ideological conceptions of power relations in society, elite theory points to the possibility that several elites with diverging voices and interests exist. Furthermore, elite theorists argue that such elite pluralism is a necessary component of a well-functioning democracy. Much scholarship on populism, often aiming to understand its causes and focussing on Western Europe and North America, points to the similarities of populist movements. The focus on similarities strengthens the understanding of populism as a uniform phenomenon and populist elite critiques as homogeneous. However, broader comparative studies show that different populist movements target a range of various elite groups. Indeed, the empirical reality of populist elite critiques targeting diverse elite groups is more in line with elite theory than populist ideological conceptions of power relations in society. A key to grasping the democratic challenges posed by the power relations between elites and masses in both populist critiques and populist solutions is an understanding of the institutional conditions for elite integration versus elite pluralism. This central discussion in both classical and modern elite theory is applied to analyse populism in this contribution.

The topic of parent migration and its effects on the family environment has become a focus of moral dilemmas in East Europe for the last three decades. Children have been portrayed as social orphans and parents working abroad as neglectful parents. Today, with more evidence from research and experience, the impact of parental migration is much more comprehensive and nuanced, recognising its noxious or even harmful but also possibly empowering effects. This chapter reflects on the involvement of left-behind adolescents as co-researchers in a study of transnational families. It acknowledges the agentic role of children (often automatically labelled as victims of neglect), amplifies their voices to inform existing data on the impact of parents' departure to work abroad and identifies directions for intervention that might strengthen families.

The research is an integral part of CASTLE – Children Left Behind by Labour Migration, an ongoing project (June 2021–December 2023). ¹ This chapter presents the research collaboration experience with 12 co-researcher adolescents with previous left-behind experiences, originating from Moldova and currently residing in Romania. The co-researchers participated in all stages of the research process: training, design of data collection, recruitment of research participants, data analysis and dissemination of results. Taking co-researcher roles had an empowering effect on adolescents, who learnt how to express their views on the topic, voiced their experiences about the emotional costs of being left behind by their parents and reflected on sensitive issues like separation of family members and violence in the family.

The purpose of this paper is to review studies on the use of virtual reality (VR) and gamification to engage students in higher education for marketing issues to identify the research topics, the research gaps and to prepare a future research agenda.

A literature review is performed based on two search terms applied to Web of Science, resulting in a final pool of 115 articles. A text-mining approach is used to conduct a full-text analysis of papers related to VR and gamification in higher education. The authors also compare the salient characteristics presented in the articles.

From this analysis, five major research topics are found and analysed, namely, teaching methodologies and education, experience and motivation, student engagement, applied theories in VR and gamification. Based on this and following the theory concept characteristics methodology framework, the paper provides directions for future research.

There is no comprehensive review exploring the topics, theories, constructs and methods used in prior studies concerning VR and gamification applied to higher education services based on all the articles published in well-regarded academic journals. This review seeks to provide deeper insights, to help scholars contribute to the development of this research field.

En este documento se revisan los estudios sobre el uso de la realidad virtual (RV) y la Gamificación para involucrar a los estudiantes en la educación superior en marketing, se identifican los principales temas de investigación tratados, las lagunas de investigación y se sugiere una agenda futura de investigación.

Una revisión de la literatura basada en dos búsquedas en Web of Science (WOS) permitió identificar 115 artículos. La minería de textos se utilizó para realizar un análisis de texto completo de los artículos relacionados con RV y gamificación en la educación superior. Los autores también compararon las características más destacadas de los artículos.

A partir de este análisis, se encuentran y analizan cinco grandes temas de investigación: metodologías de enseñanza y educación, experiencia y motivación, compromiso de los estudiantes, aplicadas a la RV y la gamificación. Basándose en esto y siguiendo el marco del TCCM, el artículo proporciona una agenda futura de investigación.

No hay una revisión exhaustiva que explore los temas, las teorías, construcciones y métodos utilizados en estudios anteriores relativos a RV y gamificación aplicados a servicios de educación superior basados en todos los artículos publicados en revistas académicas. Esta revisión proporciona una panorámica más detallada y sugiere a los académicos nuevas líneas de trabajo para seguir desarrollando este campo de investigación.

本文的目的是回顾为了提高学生参与高等教育而使用虚拟现实(VR)和游戏化的营销方面的研究，以确定它们的研究主题，研究差距，并以此准备未来的研究议程。

本文的文献综述是基于Web of Science的两个搜索词进行的，最终搜索出115篇文章。本文采用文本挖掘方法，对与高等教育中的虚拟现实和游戏化相关的论文进行全文分析。作者还比较了这些文章中呈现的显著特征。

从这一调查中，我们发现并分析了五大研究主题，即教学方法与教育、体验与动机、学生参与、虚拟现实应用理论和游戏化。在此基础上，遵循理论概念、特征、方法论框架，为今后的研究提供了方向。

目前，在权威学术期刊上发表的所有文章，都没有对以往关于虚拟现实和游戏化应用于高等教育服务的研究的主题、理论、结构和方法进行全面的综述。本文旨在提供更深刻的见解，以帮助学者们为这一研究领域的发展做出贡献。

Previous research has provided limited evidence on whether and how demographic factors associate with sensory processing patterns (SPP) in adults. This paper aims to examine relationships between SPPs and sociodemographic factors of age, sex, education and ethnicity in healthy adults.

A cross-sectional study design was used. A total of 71 adult participants was recruited from the community, using convenience sampling. Each participant completed the Adolescent/Adult Sensory Profile (AASP) and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales – short version (DASS-21). Demographic information on age, sex, education and ethnicity was collected. Results were analysed using descriptive statistics and multivariate analyses of covariance (MANCOVA).

SPPs, as measured by the AASP, were significantly correlated to demographic factors of age and education after controlling for emotional distress using the DASS-21. A statistically significant multivariate effect was found across the four dependent variables (low registration, seeking, sensitivity and avoiding) for the age category, F = 6.922, p = 0.009, ηp2 = 0.145, in the presence of a covariate DASS. The education category showed significance only in the seeking domain (p = 0.008, ηp2 = 0.10) after controlling for DASS. There was no significant correlation between SPPs and gender or ethnicity. Results also indicated that mean scores of participants in this study were “similar to most people” as standardised in the AASP.

This was a cross-sectional study with limitations including that the study used a relatively small sample and was based on self-reported healthy participants.

SPPs may correlate with healthy adults’ age and to a lesser extent education. This suggests that it might be helpful to consider such demographic factors when interpreting SPPs in clinical populations, although further research in larger samples is needed to reach firmer conclusions about possible implications of demographic variables.

The findings in this paper add to the growing evidence that suggest that SPPs vary with sociodemographic factors.

There is considerable heterogeneity between primary care systems that have evolved in individual national cultural environments. Models of Child Health Appraised (MOCHA) studied how the transfer of models or their individual components can be achieved across nations, using examples of combinations of settings, functions, target groups and tracer conditions. There are many factors that determine the feasibility of successful transfer of these from one setting to another, which must be recognised and taken into account. These include the environment of the care system, national policy-making and contextual means of directing population behaviour – in the form of penalties and incentives, which cannot be assessed or expected to work by means of rational actions alone. MOCHA developed a list of criteria to assess transferability, summarised in a population characteristics, intervention content, environment and transfer (PIET-T) process. To explore the process and means of transferability, we obtained consensus statements from the researchers on optimum model scenarios and conducted a survey of stakeholders, professionals and users of children’s primary care services that involved three specific health topics: vaccination coverage in infants, monitoring of a chronic or complex condition and early recognition of mental health problems. The results give insight into features of transferability – such as the availability and the use of guidelines and formal procedures; the barriers and facilitators of implementation and similarities and differences between model practices and the existing model of child primary care in the country. We found that successful transfer of an optimal model is impossible without tailoring the model to a specific country setting. It is vital to be aware of the sensitivity of the population and environmental characteristics of a country before starting to change the system of primary care.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the determinants of the saving behaviour of Vietnamese households and to explore the possible heterogeneity of household saving propensities.

The authors estimate the effects of household characteristics on Vietnamese household saving rates by means of a quantile regression approach using the Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey 2010 data set.

The results suggest that the way household characteristics influence saving rates is different for each quantile of the household saving rate distribution. Household characteristics tend to have stronger effects at lower quantiles. Particularly, the marginal propensity to save of households at low quantiles is higher than those at high quantiles. Analysing rural and urban households separately, the authors find evidence that household and household head characteristics have stronger significant effects for rural than for urban households. Children and elderly members should be treated as part of the household labour force, instead of household dependency, since both of them increase household saving rates.

This research contributes to the literature on Vietnamese household saving behaviours, especially for households living in urban areas.

This study aims to explore the relationship between work–life balance and employee retention by examining the mediating role of psychological empowerment among software firms based in India.

The study collected 283 responses by using a structured questionnaire and interview method. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to validate the hypothesized research model for examining the consistency and sturdiness of the study variables by applying AMOS 20.

The result reveals that psychological empowerment partially mediates the relationship between work–life balance and the retention of professionals. This indicates that a high degree of psychological empowerment strengthens the relations between work–life balance and the retention of professionals.

The research outlined a best-fit model of psychological empowerment as a partial mediator among work–life balance and the retention of professionals. The study presents a set of sensible and practical aspects where work–life balance and retention of professionals can aid in developing and generating commitment to the organization which could offer new insights for software professionals, managers and practitioners.

This study emphasized that psychological empowerment helps in enhancing dedication, loyalty, integrity, allegiance and trustworthiness among employees, thus playing a role between work–life balance and the retention of professionals.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the business model and the strategic intent to adopt an open collaboration initiative influence the perceived quality of collaboration outcomes.

This paper presents a framework to analyze the role of the strategic dimension and the operational dimension in open collaboration initiatives through multiple case studies in three companies to understand how the open collaboration initiative was deployed and how was the level of the alignment between these two dimensions.

The studied cases revealed that when an open collaboration initiative starts in the strategic dimension and there is an alignment between the organizational dimension and operational dimension, the collaboration outcomes are clearer and more traceable.

The study highlights the need to consider the involvement and the internal alignment between strategic and operational dimensions when deploying an open collaboration activity if they want to achieve all the benefits.

The presented framework can help managers to evaluate and understand how open collaboration activities are deployed within the company.

The study shows that when an open collaboration initiative is planned, its results and benefits can be extended to local communities by developing them.

This study aims to analyze the open collaboration initiative’s contribution to the overall organizational performance through the alignment between the organizational dimension and operational dimension perspective.

The purpose of this study is to investigate changing implicit leadership theories (ILTs) within a business student population over a ten-year period.

Students from the same business student population rated men, women and managers in general, using Schein’s Descriptive Index, first during the academic year 2008–2009 and again in 2018–2019.

In Sample 1, the authors found multiple ILTs, male students gender typed the managerial role in favour of men, while female students held a more gender egalitarian view of the managerial role. In Sample 2, the authors found evidence that ILTs are starting to converge, as neither the male nor female sample gender typed the managerial role.

These results aid the understanding of the ILTs that these graduating professionals bring into their new full-time organisations.

The analysis of data from the same population using the same measurement at ten-year intervals, along with the findings that male students no longer gender type the managerial role in the most recent round of data collection, are original contributions to the literature.

The purpose of this study is to analyze commercial bank-level data to examine a credit channel of the monetary policy transmission mechanism in emerging economies, such as South Africa from BRICS countries. Among the important questions that central banks, economists and policymakers have raised in this area are: Do bank characteristics and macroeconomic variables influence credit supply in South Africa? Do bank characteristics and macroeconomic variables interact to influence credit supply in South Africa?

Static panel data with pooled OLS, a random effect model and the fixed-effect model are used for data analysis. Using a sample of 50 commercial banks from South Africa over 10 years from 2009 to 2018. The statistical software Stata is utilized for data analysis.

The conclusion of this study shows that in South Africa, the loan amount has a strong and positive macroeconomic variable inflation effect. The outcomes of the study also revealed that in South Africa, there is a strong but negative association between interaction macroeconomic variables inflation and bank characteristic liquidity ratio on the loan amount.

The authors contribute to the existing literature by identifying the key determinants of monetary policy transmission channels through credit in South Africa and, furthermore, through a country-level data analysis and disaggregation at the commercial bank level, as well as economic conditions.